James Hinchcliffe picks his future champion: Piastri or Norris?
Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris seem to be in contention to become the successor of Max Verstappen as the F1 World Champion. James Hinchcliffe, former IndyCar driver and now analyst at F1 TV, predicts who will eventually claim the biggest prize.
During an exclusive interview with GPblog, Hinchcliffe evaluates the current F1 year, describing it as 'a good season'. He is particularly pleased that there isn't one driver cruising unchallenged towards the title. He even harks back to 1989, when two McLaren drivers also fought it out. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won fifteen out of sixteen Grands Prix then.
Similar to Senna and Prost
"But people don't complain that only two drivers were winning. People remember the rivalry. So when you're in a period of one team dominating, what makes it okay is when both drivers are competing at the front. We haven't had that with Red Bull. We didn't have that in the Ferrari era [with Schumacher]."
"We had it a little bit in Mercedes for two years maybe, but really outside of that it was kind of all just noise. So it's a unique situation where you have one team that's so clearly ahead, but two drivers that are so evenly matched," Hinchcliffe remarks.
The best driver won't be the champion?
Norris and Piastri are excellent drivers, but friend and foe alike agree that Max Verstappen is a level above. Therefore, the best driver will not win the title in 2025. "Yeah, but that's Formula 1, that's how it goes," says Hinchcliffe.
"You could argue that for many, many different years. This is a manufacturer's championship at the end of the day. You look at IndyCar, which is a driver’s championship, because you're given the same equipment. The driver has a much bigger influence on the result than they do in F1. Are they the 20 best drivers in the world? They're certainly 20 of the best, yes. But at the end of the day, this is still a manufacturer-first championship."
Piastri or Norris in '25?
In any case, only one driver can claim the grand prize and right now, Hinchcliffe thinks that Piastri is the slight favourite. "I would say at this point of the season, you would say yes. He's got a slight edge but there's 10 races to go. There's a lot that could happen in 10 races."
"You would have said in 2016 and Hamilton had the edge over Rosberg. Rosberg won the championship. But Oscar could have bad luck. So, that's motorsports. The best driver doesn't always win the world championship. So I think either one of them had an equal shot in a lot of ways. Yes, I do think Oscar is performing more consistently at this point. But when Lando's on he's very good," Hinchcliffe explains.
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