Oscar Piastri leaves no doubt about his biggest Miami threat between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen

Oscar Piastri has revealed who he sees as his biggest threat between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the F1 Miami GP. The McLaren driver finds himself in a unique spot with the previous year's championship rivals chasing his lead, five rounds into the 2025 season.

Despite a ninth-place finish in the season opener at Melbourne, Piastri has launched a successful bid for the championship with three victories in China, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. He has consistently outdueled the likes of Verstappen and Norris, both in qualifying and on race days.

While his Saudi Arabian bout with Verstappen remains his closest competition so far, he's yet to go head-to-head with his McLaren teammate, Norris, who is coming off a good record at Miami. The Brit secured his maiden F1 win at the track in 2024.

That said, on Thursday's (May 1) media day, Piastri was asked to name his biggest threat between Verstappen and Norris at the Miami street circuit. He replied (via Formula1.com):

"I think Lando. We are obviously in the same car, so I know the strength of that, obviously Lando is not a slow driver himself so we will wait and see what the pecking order is like, but I think our car has been consistently strong."

He also spoke about Red Bull closing the gap with McLaren in recent races.

"I think the Red Bull has got very close in a few races like Suzuka and Jeddah. In Jeddah it was probably the most competitive race of the year, but I think we have been consistently strong at all the circuits so far," Oscar Piastri added.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown recently shared his take on Norris and Piastri's run at the top and predicted that an eventual clash between the two is bound to happen.

As Lando Norris looks to make a comeback at Miami, he sits 10 points adrift of Oscar Piastri in the standings. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is vying for his third career win at the circuit after Norris denied him a three-peat last year.

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Oscar Piastri says he enjoys being hunted as the championship leader

Oscar Piastri is no stranger to leading a championship, having led back-to-back titles with the Formula 3 and Formula 2 series. After just three seasons in F1, the Australian has come into his own as McLaren's lead driver for their title defence.

Reflecting upon the same, Piastri shared that he isn't stressed by the pressures that come with leading the championship.

"I think, for myself I quite enjoy being in the position of being hunted because normally that means you are doing something right. I’m pretty relaxed, the gap is very small and we are only at round five or six now, so I’m not too concerned with that," he said in the same media interaction.

Oscar Piastri's lead mark him as the first Australian to achieve the feat in 15 years. The previous record holder was his manager, Mark Webber.