{"id":247921,"date":"2025-10-29T05:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247921\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T05:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:03:11","slug":"im-having-to-drive-the-car-very-differently-since-cota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247921\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m having to “drive the car very differently” since COTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time since the Bahrain GP, Oscar Piastri<\/a> is no longer the Championship leader. Lando Norris has slowly eroded the Australian\u2019s advantage, with his victory in Mexico tipping the scales back in his favour.<\/p>\n

Norris<\/a> will be satisfied with his performances in recent weeks, especially since his devastating DNF in Zandvoort. Many observers massively downplayed his title hopes after his retirement, which saw Piastri extend his lad to 34 points.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Piastri is clearly experiencing an unprecedented slump \u2013 and there is no certainty when he will recover.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fifth placed Oscar Piastri in Mexico. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images)
\nPiastri outlines difficulties with MCL39<\/p>\n

Heading into the Mexican GP, there were many discussions about the swing in momentum at the McLaren garage.<\/p>\n

After enjoying a marginal edge over Norris until the summer break, Piastri now finds himself struggling to match his teammate. In some races, such as Baku and Singapore, it was not performance that was Piastri\u2019s main limitation.<\/p>\n

Several mistakes in Baku and a controversial Turn 1 incident in Singapore were the main talking points from the Championship perspective \u2013 rather than a fundamental difference in pace.<\/p>\n

Of course, raw performance is now a genuine concern for Piastri. Both in COTA and Mexico City, the Australian was nowhere near matching Norris \u2013 whether in qualifying or race trim.<\/p>\n

To some degree, Max Verstappen\u2019s resurgence<\/a> has briefly helped overshadow the 24-year-old\u2019s dip in form. For understandable reasons, the Dutchman\u2019s return into title contention has been one of the most compelling narratives this season.<\/p>\n

The four-time Champion\u2019s victory in Austin, alongside Piastri and Norris making contact in the Sprint Race, took centre stage in media circles and fan discussions.<\/p>\n

After last weekend, however, there is a growing spotlight on Oscar Piastri. For the time being, the McLaren driver has no answers for his recent results.<\/p>\n

He said as much to the media post-race on Sunday:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the last couple of races has been surprising in terms of the pace\u2026 We have some evidence of where the pace is, and what to do. But I\u2019ve got to drive the car very differently these last couple of weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich, when it\u2019s been working well for you for the previous 18 [races], is a little bit difficult to kind of wrap your head around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried a few things today, and we\u2019ll have a look if that\u2019s what we were looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Oscar Piastri leads George Russell in Mexico. (Photo by Andy Hone\/LAT Images)
\nA chance to reset before the Brazilian GP<\/p>\n

On paper, Piastri is obviously still a contender for the Championship. He is only one point behind Norris, a difference that could easily be overturned at the Sprint Race in Brazil \u2013 let along the Grand Prix itself.<\/p>\n

That said, the issue is not a matter of numbers, but a matter of confidence and performance. Taking the first eighteen rounds as a simple size, both McLaren<\/a> drivers would have reason to believe they can become Champions.<\/p>\n

Based on the last two races, however, Norris has been the clearly stronger driver.\u00a0 The challenge for Piastri is to prove the last few races are a blip, rather than something that will sustain itself until the season ends.<\/p>\n

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella<\/a> has suggested that limitations in the Australian\u2019s driving style were exposed in America and Mexico. Stella\u2019s implication was that the final rounds should not see this vulnerability exposed.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Piastri seems less clear on the explanation his sudden downturn in form \u2013 and it is unclear whether this will change at the Brazilian GP, or if a similar lack of pace will persist.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Peter Fox\/Getty Images (McLaren media gallery)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since the Bahrain GP, Oscar Piastri is no longer the Championship leader. Lando Norris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,47854,913,806,805,803,804,2333,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-247921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1-2025-season","11":"tag-mclaren","12":"tag-motor","13":"tag-motor-sports","14":"tag-motosport","15":"tag-motosports","16":"tag-oscar-piastri","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247921","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=247921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}