Oscar Piastri will need to completely rewrite the Formula 1 history books to claim the world title he was denied last season, with a devastating statistic revealing his championship hopes are already on life support.
After just two rounds of the 2026 season, the McLaren star sits a catastrophic 48 points behind championship leader George Russell.
To put that into perspective, it is a gap larger than the biggest championship comeback in the sport’s 76-year history.
The record books are undeniably brutal. The largest deficit ever successfully overturned to win an F1 title is 46 points, achieved by Max Verstappen in 2022. Piastri is already two points beyond that seemingly impossible threshold — and the season is barely a fortnight old.
Incredibly, the Australian hasn’t even completed a single lap of a full-format race yet.
His campaign began with a gut-wrenching moment in front of a packed Albert Park crowd in Melbourne, where a heavy crash on the way to the grid meant he failed to even make the formation lap.
Then came Shanghai. In an extraordinary twist, Piastri and teammate Lando Norris both ended up stuck in the garage in a double McLaren disaster that may have already derailed their hopes of securing another constructors’ crown.
Piastri. Two rounds down. Zero race laps completed. Three paltry points scraped together from a solitary sprint race appearance in China.
THE BIGGEST COMEBACKS IN F1 HISTORY
2022 — Max Verstappen (46 points): The Dutchman overturned this massive deficit early in the season to secure his second world title. It remains the largest comeback ever recorded.
2012 — Sebastian Vettel (44 points): Trailed Fernando Alonso by 44 points before an extraordinary late-season charge clinched the championship in Brazil’s final round.
2010 — Sebastian Vettel (31 points): A masterclass that saw him overcome a 31-point gap to snatch glory on the final lap of the final race in Abu Dhabi.
1976 — James Hunt (30+ points): Trailed Niki Lauda by 35 points before Lauda’s near-fatal crash at the Nürburgring changed everything, with Hunt winning the title by a single point in Japan.
None of these motorsport legends faced the mountain Piastri is currently staring down.
The 24-year-old finished third in last year’s title fight behind champion Norris and Verstappen, agonisingly close to becoming Australia’s first world champion since Sir Jack Brabham in 1966.
Meanwhile, Russell looks like he can only be beaten by his teammate Kimi Antonelli. He leads the teenager by four points after Mercedes, and their battery blitzed the opening two rounds.
Piastri’s only glimmer of hope is that 22 races still remain—and that McLaren can somehow manage the new battery and rediscover the pace and reliability that made them all-conquering last year.
But history bluntly suggests fans shouldn’t hold their breath.
The mountain has never been higher, and no driver has ever climbed it. To make matters even worse, McLaren heads into the next round flying blind with severely limited data after suffering three DNS results across just two races.
Tune into motorracing 360 tonight at 7.30pm for all the latest on Piastri as Mark Skaife, Jess Yates, Paul Murray and James Phelps debate and dissect his chances.