F1 commentator Cam van den Dungen has told Yahoo Sport Australia that McLaren’s decision to have Oscar Piastri miss the first practice session in Abu Dhabi “could prove to be the final nail in his championship aspirations” if things don’t go the Aussie’s way. But while the F1 expert believes it’s “awkward” timing for Piastri, it’s “not a weekend killer.”
Piastri will have to miss FP1 in Abu Dhabi due to F1 rules that require rookie drivers to be given a certain number of practice sessions per season. Piastri had a major opportunity to cut the gap to Lando Norris at the top of the Drivers’ Championship in Qatar last weekend, only for McLaren’s poor strategy to not pit during the safety car just about costing him the podium.
This allowed Max Verstappen to build a lead and the Aussie driver couldn’t chase down the Red Bull driver in time having finished second. Norris ended up in fourth after a tough race. This was not the best result for Piastri considering he was clearly the fastest all weekend and could have entered the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi with a real chance of taking home the title.
Oscar Piastri (pictured left) could be at a slight disadvantage come the final race of the year having to give up his FP1 seat to rookie Pato O’Ward in Abu Dhabi. (Images: Getty Images)
Oscar Piastri won’t take part in first practice in Abu Dhabi
He still has a slim chance, but it could become harder in Abu Dhabi with the McLaren driver forced to sit out FP1. At the Mexico Grand Prix, Norris and eight other drivers gave up their seat in practice to a young replacement.
F1 rules state a team’s car must give up a seat twice a year to a rookie driver – twice each for both cars. Norris sat out for the last time in Mexico as Piastri got an extra run through the track without his teammate on the course.
However, Piastri has not sat out twice in the 2025 season yet and the Aussie will need to give up a practice session in the final race of the year at the Abu Dhabi GP. The timing isn’t ideal considering Piastri is still in the title hunt, and he won’t get the full weekend in the car at such a crucial stage.
Speaking to Yahoo on Tuesday, Aussie F1 expert van den Dungen said: “It’s awkward timing, but it’s not a weekend killer. There is a reason that teams choose tracks like Yas Marina (or Mexico for that matter) to hold their rookie sessions, and it mainly relates to how valuable the session is from a data collection, or driver set-up perspective. FP1 in Abu Dhabi is considered a ‘low yield’ session for race prep because the conditions vary greatly from those in which they qualify and race.”
But van den Dungen conceded it could prove disastrous if Piastri runs into any troubles in FP2. “It isn’t without risk, especially when you consider what is at stake this weekend,” he said.
“Driver comfort and confidence in the car set-up is always a factor in a race weekend, and with Oscar losing an hour of track time, whilst both Lando and Max have the additional time to familiarise and optimise their various race weekend programs means that Oscar will need a clean FP2 to ensure that he can gather the critical qualifying and race data to set him up for a successful weekend. Should Piastri’s FP2 be compromised by red flags, or even mechanical gremlins, then the rookie session could prove to be the final nail in his championship aspirations.
“The bigger question for Oscar will be, how is McLaren going to manage the entire race weekend from the pit wall? Will they be indecisive and compromise both drivers like they did in Qatar? Will they break their own commitment and sacrifice Oscar to ensure Lando wins his first championship? Or will they honour their commitments and make decisive calls that will give Oscar the best chance of winning the race, and a glimmer of hope at winning his first world drivers’ championship?”
Pato O’Ward (pictured) is set to take Oscar Piastri’s seat at FP1 in Abu Dhabi.
There are still seven other teams that will need to sit out a driver for FP1 in the final event of the year. If a team starts the season with a rookie driver, like Mercedes, they only have to hand over one car twice.
Fans are feeling for Piastri, considering the tactics from McLaren in Qatar, but the team have once again doubled down on the instructions the teammates are free to race in the season finale. Verstappen has the ability to finish as the champion in 2025, despite looking out of the race halfway through the season. The Red Bull driver is 12 points behind Norris and four ahead of Piastri. If Norris fails to podium, and Verstappen wins, he take home the title.
Oscar Piasti and Lando Norris free to race
This has prompted suggestions over whether McLaren will ask Piastri to support Norris if need be during the race. However, McLaren boss Andrea Stella said their philosophy won’t change for the final race of the season.
“When it comes to the fact that we have two drivers in the quest for the World Championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change,” he said after Qatar. “We will leave both Oscar and Lando the possibility to compete and pursue their aspiration.”
Stella mentioned the last time three drivers were in for a chance to win the title only for the unlikely winner to emerge. This happened with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 and Sebastian Vettel in 2010.
“Oscar, from a points point of view, is definitely in condition to win the title,” Stella said. “We have seen before in the history of Formula One that when you have this kind of situation, sometimes it’s the third one that actually wins.
“We have seen it, I think, in 2007, in 2010, and Oscar is fast. I think he deserves to be able to just realise his performance. We will let the drivers be in condition to race each other. What’s important for us is that we are in condition to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers.”