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Max Verstappen has been warned that Oscar Piastri will not tolerate "nonsense" coming from the Dutchman as the pair battle it out for the drivers' championship this season.
Piastri has become the favorite for the title with three consecutive victories, but Verstappen, the current champion, is still a serious contender who should not be written off.
Already this season, Piastri has shown that he is not afraid of Verstappen - a driver who often forces others to obey him, instead of the other way around.
Together in Miami, they created one of the most exciting moments of the season in the battle for first place, which eventually went to Piastri, winning the race by an impressive margin.
Alan Jones reacts
After a great start to the year, Piastri was praised by another Australian driver – Alan Jones. The 1980 Formula 1 champion declared that his countryman would not put up with "nonsense" coming from Verstappen.
"When he sees space, he goes for it, and Oscar won't be intimidated by that," Jones told Fox Sports. “There are a lot of drivers that Verstappen is bluffing and holding hostage, but I believe Oscar has the mental strength to not take that kind of nonsense.”
“He will take it for what it is and give it back in kind.”
The praise comes after Jones described Piastre’s teammate Lando Norris as “weak,” and added that of the two McLaren drivers, he believes Piastre is the one who will be the future champion.
“He is without a doubt the future world champion,” Jones said. “He has come out of nowhere and has all the qualities that are needed to win the title. The first person you have to beat is your teammate. He can win the title this year, no doubt about it. At the end of the day, his teammate is weak.”
"His teammate is fast, no doubt about that. But I think he's mentally pretty weak. He keeps talking nonsense about mental difficulties, he focuses more on the problems than the positives. When they start talking nonsense, you know they're done," concluded Alan Jones.
English (US)