Follow us on Google Discover Oscar Piastri led the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship for 75% of the season to date, yet the McLaren ace is being ruled out for the title after a troubled Mexico City Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old dropped to second in the standings after Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with McLaren teammate Lando Norris sealing the top spot for the first time since April. Piastri had led the championship since the fifth of the scheduled 24 rounds.
Only a single point now separates the papaya pals atop the F1 drivers’ standings after Norris won the Mexico City GP, while Piastri finished 42.065 seconds behind in just P5. Now, Norris edges Piastri with 357 points over 356, with a maximum of 116 points still available in 2025.
Norris, who got pole position in Mexico City with a 1:15.586, has also outscored Piastri, who only qualified P8 with a 1:16.174 but started from P7, by 35 points over the past five rounds. Max Verstappen of Red Bull has also outscored Piastri by 69 points in the past five rounds.
Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty ImagesOscar Piastri told he’s ‘done’ in the F1 title fight after losing his ‘trust’ with McLaren’s car
Now, Tim Coronel believes Piastri is “done” in the title fight, with Norris and Verstappen due to slug it out for the championship over the final four rounds of the 2025 F1 season in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Sao Paulo and Qatar will also hold the final Sprints of 2025.
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ROUNDCHAMPIONSHIP LEADERMARGIN AT MCLARENAustralian GPNorris (25 points)23 points over PiastriChinese GPNorris (44 points)10 points over PiastriJapanese GPNorris (62 points)13 points over PiastriBahrain GPNorris (77 points)3 points over PiastriSaudi Arabian GPPiastri (99 points)10 points over NorrisMiami GPPiastri (131 points)16 points over NorrisEmilia Romagna GPPiastri (146 points)13 points over NorrisMonaco GPPiastri (161 points)3 points over NorrisSpanish GPPiastri (186 points)10 points over NorrisCanadian GPPiastri (198 points)22 points over NorrisAustrian GPPiastri (216 points)15 points over NorrisBritish GPPiastri (234 points)8 points over NorrisBelgian GPPiastri (266 points)16 points over NorrisHungarian GPPiastri (284 points)9 points over NorrisDutch GPPiastri (309 points)34 points over NorrisItalian GPPiastri (324 points)31 points over NorrisAzerbaijan GPPiastri (324 points)25 points over NorrisSingapore GPPiastri (336 points)22 points over NorrisUnited States GPPiastri (346 points)14 points over NorrisMexico City GPNorris (357 points)1 point over Piastri2025 F1 drivers’ championship momentum between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris
Coronel wonders if Piastri can react to Norris and Verstappen’s surges in the standings, as he feels the Australian has lost his “trust” with the McLaren MCL39. Piastri did not maximise McLaren’s car in America, and stated in Mexico that he is struggling to adjust at some tracks.
Coronel told RacingNews365: “Once you have that in your head, as a driver, what I call trust, once it’s broken, just look at all the drivers who have sat next to Max, it’s not going to be OK. So, I really think it’s not going to be OK.
“And especially as long as Norris is on a roll. He’s such a hot guy, he’s really coming into his own. He’s getting his points these days. That’s just going to break [Piastri] down further. That’s not going to work. No, Piastri is done. Sorry to the fans.
“I was a bit of a Norris fan anyway because he just deserves it more. Then it will be a really cool battle between the two best mates on this planet who always sit together in a jet.”
Oscar Piastri is struggling to understand how he can find the McLaren MCL39’s performance
Norris and Verstappen have taken points out of Piastri in each of the past five rounds as the Australian crashed in Azerbaijan, failed to get over his teammate making contact during the Singapore GP, crashed into Norris in the COTA Sprint and struggled all weekend in Mexico.
Even before he only achieved P8 in qualifying for the Mexico City GP and finished the race in P5, Jacques Villeneuve suggested that Piastri is cracking under the F1 title pressure. Piastri’s difficulties adapting the MCL39 for the races in America and Mexico did not help him, either.
“It’s certainly been a learning experience, for sure,” Piastri noted last Sunday, via ESPN. “For some reason, the last couple of weekends have required a very different way of driving, and what’s worked well for me in the last 19 races has needed something very different the last couple of weekends. And trying to wrap my head around why has been a bit of a struggle.”
Norris did not face the same challenges at COTA or the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, as he out-qualified Piastri for the Sprint in Austin, the United States GP and the Mexico City GP. Piastri was 0.309s, 0.283s and 0.588s slower than Norris in the relevant Q3 sessions, too.