By Darian Lee Crowley
Is Piastri bottling it?
In September, Oscar Piastri looked unstoppable to become world champion. Now, he is struggling and set to lose out. What happened?
Fast and (in)consistent
After the Dutch Grand Prix, Piastri had a 34-point lead over teammate Lando Norris and a 104-point lead over Max Verstappen. Piastri had looked much more comfortable in the McLaren this year.
The McLaren dominated the field. Piastri had only made one significant error all season, a penalty at the British Grand Prix which cost him the win.
This consistency was in stark contrast to Lando Norris, who struggled with qualifying and wheel-to-wheel errors, sometimes every weekend.
McLando?
There have been several accusations of late that McLaren have shown favouritism towards Lando Norris, which has led to Piastri’s title slump.
A flashpoint was at the Italian Grand Prix, where Piastri was controversially told to let Norris pass after a slow pit stop. This and the opening lap incident in Singapore seem to have unsettled Piastri.
Another accusation of favouritism is over car development, that McLaren are developing their car in the second half of the season to suit Norris’ driving style. Whether intentional or not, McLaren’s car development certainly seems to favour Norris, which was very evident in Mexico.
Bottling it
The biggest compliment Piastri has been given is over calmness and coolness. Norris made a string of errors in consecutive races at the start of the season and seemed to be in a confidence crisis.
Piastri, on the other hand, seemed to always be able to deliver the maximum from the car and not make errors.
This dynamic seems to have reversed since Monza, as Piastri has made several unusual mistakes.
A disastrous crash-heavy Baku weekend saw his 2-year finishing streak end. After the first-lap incident in Singapore, Piastri seemed very uncharacteristically angry for several laps on the team radio.
Piastri has won championships before, but F1 is different. It pushes drivers to the limit, and the pressure is immense.
Both McLaren drivers know this might be the best chance they’ll ever get to be world champion. Piastri will be desperate not to follow in the footsteps of his manager, Mark Webber. A decent driver but was unable to deliver when it mattered most. F1 veterans have cast their doubt.
Can he still win?
Of course! It’s not all over for Piastri. He’’+s only 1 point behind his teammate.
But momentum is very difficult to stop in F1 when it’s going against you late in a season. And right now the momentum is with Verstappen and Norris.
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