{"id":208536,"date":"2025-10-12T19:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T19:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/208536\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T19:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T19:43:07","slug":"oscar-piastri-linked-with-shock-mclaren-exit-as-guenther-steiner-responds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/208536\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri linked with shock McLaren exit as Guenther Steiner responds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rumors emerged following the Singapore Grand Prix that Australian racer Oscar Piastri could consider leaving McLaren behind for new horizons \u2014 but many, including Guenther Steiner, are wondering why he would do that.<\/p>\n

From the perspective of the former Haas F1 team principal, there\u2019s not only nowhere better for Piastri<\/a> to go, but he\u2019s also currently in line to become McLaren\u2019s World Champion heading into 2026.<\/p>\n

Guenther Steiner: Oscar Piastri should remain with McLaren<\/p>\n

The 2025 Singapore Grand Prix saw chaos descend on the McLaren Racing<\/a> team when Lando Norris, from fifth on the grid, collided with both Max Verstappen and his teammate Oscar Piastri as he launched into a gap on the first lap.<\/p>\n

The Australian driver was initially furious, telling the team that Norris\u2019 move was not very \u201cteam-like\u201d and that it was \u201cnot fair\u201d that the team declined to intervene in the incident during the race itself.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long before Australian reporters latched onto a report from Swiss outlet Blick that claimed Piastri is eyeing a move to Ferrari for the F1 2027 season.<\/p>\n

More on McLaren and papaya rules:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Uncovered Oscar Piastri clip sheds new light on Norris Singapore GP collision<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0The future of McLaren\u2019s papaya rules: Are \u2018consequences\u2019 now out of the window?<\/a><\/p>\n

As noted by PlanetF1.com<\/a> at the time, a move for Piastri at this time makes very little sense.<\/p>\n

Formula 1 is on the cusp of a brand-new regulatory set that will be introduced in 2026, one that will transform everything from the power units to the aerodynamics \u2014 and, as such, we\u2019ll likely see changes in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

Ferrari could indeed emerge as a strong championship contender in 2026, but McLaren could also produce the most dominant car. A seat could open up at Ferrari for 2027, but it\u2019s just as likely that both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton could remain committed to the team for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Asked about the likelihood of Piastri leaving McLaren on the Red Flags Podcast, former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner almost immediately dismissed the notion.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, he\u2019s going to win the world championship this year, so that\u2019s why he should stay there,\u201d Steiner said of Piastri.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year, wherever you go \u2014 first of all, there is no seats in the next year. And wherever you go, you wouldn\u2019t know where you\u2019re going, and I think McLaren at the moment is doing a pretty good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would make sense, then, that McLaren would emerge as a strong competitor in 2026. The team has already turned its attention to developing its 2026 machinery, whereas competitors like Red Bull Racing have introduced small upgrades in recent races that could be taking away from its developmental capacity next season.<\/p>\n

Further, Steiner doesn\u2019t believe there would be any logical reason for Piastri to go elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously he can beat Lando. If he can beat him this year, I think his hope should be to beat him in the future as well,\u201d Steiner stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should he leave?\u201d<\/p>\n

Many rumors of Piastri\u2019s departure have been powered by ongoing conspiracy theories that the Australian driver is being put at a disadvantage compared to Lando Norris, who some fans consider to be the team\u2019s \u2018favorite.\u2019<\/p>\n

Steiner dismissed that notion, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they put him at a disadvantage; they just don\u2019t put him at an advantage, so he has to fight for everything,\u201d Steiner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if he wins the world championship, I think he will for sure the world champion in the team and that is what counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s leaving. No. Shouldn\u2019t be leaving. Should stay there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exact nature of Piastri\u2019s contract with McLaren is unclear; in March of 2025, the Australian driver inked a \u201cmulti-year\u201d deal to remain with the Woking-based team. While the exact length of the contract has not been revealed, it\u2019s sensible to assume that it would carry the Australian driver through 2026 and 2027, at the very least.<\/p>\n

Lando Norris also signed a \u201cmulti-year\u201d contract back in 2024 which extended his existing contract beyond the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0McLaren deny Alex Palou \u2018lies and false impressions\u2019 claim in ongoing lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rumors emerged following the Singapore Grand Prix that Australian racer Oscar Piastri could consider leaving McLaren behind for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,3552,818,913,44,2333,17165,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-208536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-guenther-steiner","14":"tag-home-page","15":"tag-mclaren","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-oscar-piastri","18":"tag-popular","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}