What’s happened to Oscar Piastri? From leading Lando Norris by 34 points after the Dutch Grand Prix, he now finds himself one behind after Mexico.
Has Piastri crumbled in the heat of a title battle? Or is there something more at play here? McLaren believes it knows the answer – and the solution.
Has Oscar Piastri thrown the F1 2025 title away?
A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix
When an athlete struggles as badly as Oscar Piastri has done over recent weeks, and at such a crucial point in the season, the temptation is to put it all down to psychology.
And with good reason too.
The overall talent level in sport is so uniformly high these days that it is very often the mental and emotional factors that decide outcomes.
Everyone is so annoyingly good and professional now that what were once considered the little things have ended up becoming decisive. Hence the invention of the very modern term ‘marginal gains’.
It is not necessarily about being the best or the most gifted, but about still being able to access all your skill and talent – or, at least, a greater proportion of it than your opponent can – even when under the most enormous pressure and scrutiny.
That, now more than ever, is how races and matches, championships and tournaments, are won in sport. It’s happening in every field and in every discipline.
Oscar Piastri vs Lando Norris: McLaren head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
So it is easy to look at Piastri’s results over the last couple of months and conclude that this is a classic case of a driver collapsing under pressure.
And undoubtedly some moments – the panic on the streets of Baku, the way he faded without trace after the first lap in Singapore, his careless switchback at the start of the sprint in Austin – fall under that banner.
But not all.
His significant pace deficit to Lando Norris over the last two weekends, culminating in a 0.588s gap in Mexico qualifying and a pair of measly fifth-place finishes?
That points to something more complex going on beneath the surface.
Something McLaren, at least, feels it understands.
Piastri arrived in Mexico confident that his struggles in Austin were related entirely to the unusual demands of the Circuit of the Americas, specifically the way the tyres are guaranteed to overheat no matter how they are nursed by the driver.
Only to meet with the same root problem – a fundamental lack of grip, everyone struggling to a greater or lesser degree – here too.
The hard truth for Oscar? Norris is simply better equipped to deal with the challenges posed by low-grip conditions.
McLaren has hinted at it a couple of times over the last two races, team principal Andrea Stella telling media including PlanetF1.com on Sunday in Austin that Piastri must “challenge the car and lean on the oversteer, understeer, locking” when grip is low and adding that “this is an area of his driving that he has an opportunity to improve.”
His comments after qualifying last Saturday in Mexico were along a similar theme.
“The fastest car is also a car that needs to be driven in a certain way,” Stella said. “Especially when you have conditions like here and to some extent in Austin with hot tarmac, sliding tyres.
“The way in which you generate lap time is a way that, I would say, comes relatively naturally for Lando and less naturally for Oscar.
“Lando is the driver of going on low grip, end of the stint when the tyres are quite worn, used, the grip is low.
“It’s where we see Lando [post] green sector, green sector, green sector.
“Oscar, instead, is more of a driver of high grip and that’s where he can exploit this incredible talent.”
More on Oscar Piastri and McLaren from PlanetF1.com
The worst thing Piastri can do now is fall into the trap of pointing fingers at the car and the team, magicking up some unidentified problem with the chassis and believing the nonsense online that the cars in the McLaren garage are in some way unequal.
So many others – including some celebrated world champions – have headed down that path over the years and it never ends well.
The trick, instead, is to looks introspectively and remain self critical – what can I do about this? – accept that there are some things Norris currently does a bit better and work on those lingering weaknesses in his technique.
Piastri, humble and intelligent enough to recognise the reality of the situation, alluded to some progress in that area on Sunday in Mexico after experimenting with his driving style during the race.
That, you’ll often find, is the mark of the truly great drivers.
That’s how you know Oscar will be just fine, no matter how this season ends.
Reader reaction: Can Oscar Piastri rescue his faltering title challenge?
BillyBob: Please give us a wet Brazil with Norris DNF
Marco Andrea: Mr Norris was untouchable this weekend, massive win! And it seems Oscar is dithering under championship pressure from his team-mate.
Racing Guru father of Fangio: Expect Oscar to be better in the next race. Learns to drive fast car in certain way.
Beaker (in reply to Racing Guru father of Fangio): How many more times do we need to hear that excuse
Neil (in reply to Racing Guru father of Fangio): People have been saying that for several races now. He doesn’t appear to have an answer to Norris right now.
jnc: If Piastri doesn’t do it, keep reminding yourself that this is only his third season. Even Max took from 2014 to 2021 to take his first championship. He’s still learning.
User 1471047282: If Lando wins the title this site will be meltdown central because posters have ripped him all season with their Piastri loving.
VictorBravo: Conclusion: Now McLaren have the WCC in the bag it’s clear they’re prepared to burn Piastri to get their golden boy A WDC
Ex Pitlane Monkey: I think Oscar will be breathing a sigh of relief, although he lost the lead of the championship it could have been a lot worse, but happy won’t be an emotion he’ll be feeling right now.
FdK: well, at least McL have got their preferred driver in the lead now – not certain what happened to Piastri since the restart, he has definitely gone from unflappable to error-prone
Roam: If Piastri isn’t being sabotaged by mclaren and he’s driving the same car as Norris then his mental collapse needs to be studied by sports scientists because he’s thrown the championship away.
F1 Logic: Fact is Lando is better in low grip conditions and Oscar is a close match and more consistent when there is a lot of grip offered by the track.
The McLaren was redesigned for 2025 to really protect rear tyres. That has allowed Oscar to really lean on the rear on corner entry and wasn’t bothered about the slightly numb front end.
By contrast Lando has always preferred a much pointier car and is happy with some rear instability, this was difficult as he couldn’t get feeling from the front end on turn in to commit. An issue Kimi raikkonnen used to have after moving from Michelin tyres.
Lando has worked with set up across season to really work to get that feeling. Across the last 2 GPs the temps have meant it’s very low grip and that has meant there is less rear stability in the McLaren and the car has been much more on the nose. Lando has thrived with that and Oscar has struggled.
This is also why Oscar tends to get better and better as weekend goes on and why Lando tends to start weekend with upper hand when track is green at start of the weekend
Brazil Oscar will be closer again, Las Vegas Oscar will drop away again. Qatar he will be close. Abu Dhabi Oscar will start behind but be there on pace come qualifying.
Lando has struggled more with wheel to wheel and race starts but pace wise if he has had track position on low grip tracks he has had much more pace than Oscar.
Read next: Why can’t Lando Norris do this every week?