Formula 1’s new “golden child”, Oscar Piastri will receive a “big help” in the championship fight as stewards won’t penalise him as “easily” as they would Max Verstappen.

It is reminiscent, Jacques Villeneuve claims, of Lewis Hamilton’s advantage over his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg during their championship battles.

‘Oscar Piastri is on the right side of the balance’

Although much of the pre-season hype was focused on Lando Norris and whether he could go one better in the F1 2025 championship having finished runner-up last year, it is Piastri who has emerged as the one to beat.

Norris took the early-season lead with his victory at the Australian Grand Prix but since then it’s been all Piastri, the Aussie claiming four Grand Prix victories to take a 16-point lead over his team-mate, with reigning World Champion Verstappen a further 16 off the pace.

Piastri has impressed with his calm, clinical nature as he held his nerve against Verstappen on the opening lap of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while a week later, he “annoyed” Kimi Antonelli as they fought for the lead into Turn 1 at the Miami Sprint.

In both instances, the stewards ruled that Piastri had the right to the corner with Verstappen penalised in Saudi for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, while there was no action against Piastri in Miami.

McLaren team-mates: F1 2025 head-to-head stats

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Antonelli’s response to that: “It seems like it’s like this, that you can do basically whatever you want, so it’s good to know for the future.”

1997 World Champion Villeneuve believes Piastri is getting away with infringements that others, most certainly Verstappen, wouldn’t as he’s emerged as F1’s “golden child”. It reminds the Canadian of Hamilton’s position during his championship fights against Rosberg.

“Piastri is loved,” he told Vision4Sport. “He’s like the golden child right now.

“If something happens, he won’t be given penalties as easily as Max Verstappen is, for instance. That’s also a big help in fighting for a championship.

“It reminds me of when we had Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fighting for the championship. If they made the same move, Nico would get a penalty. In the following race, if Lewis made the same move, he wouldn’t be penalised.

“There is this slight unbalance which is human and Piastri is on the right side of the balance.”

Hamilton and Rosberg raced for the World titles from 2014 to 2016, the German eventually getting the better of the Briton in his final season in Formula 1.

The former Williams driver also weighed in on the McLaren team-mate battle with Piastri overhauling Norris in the standings.

Barely putting a wheel wrong this season, Piastri has been the more consistent of the two as Norris’ mistakes have dropped him behind his team-mate.

Villeneuve believes Norris’ biggest problem isn’t Piastri, it’s Norris.

“I don’t think Oscar Piastri has got into Lando Norris’s head, I think Lando got into his own head,” he said.

“Lando came in as an underdog last year who was not supposed to win and not supposed to fight for the championship. That was easy. There was no pressure. Then it just builds up. This year he spent the whole winter thinking, ‘Okay, this will be my big shot. It’s next year or never.’

“Lando started the season with a different kind of weight on his shoulders and he hasn’t coped well with that because he’s still super quick, but there’s the odd moment that is so costly in the championship. He’s generally quicker than Piastri, but the points are not there. There are just too many small mistakes and with the field so close, it means you lose more than one position, you lose maybe five spots. That’s a lot of points.

“Lando always seems to be on the back foot. Piastri looks and feels like he belongs there. He is there to fight.

“I don’t think has changed that much. I think it’s more that it has collapsed around him and he’s just stayed focused and cold. Maybe he has taken a small step.

“But that small step is getting bigger with the other one. Lando Norris is stepping backwards. It is making a big difference.”

Read next: Lando Norris receives ruthless new nickname ahead of Imola Grand Prix