The downturn experienced by Oscar Piastri in recent races could be a red herring of sorts, according to Jacques Villeneuve.<\/p>\n
The 1997 world champion has suggested Piastri has begun to struggle because he was already at his limit competing against an underperforming teammate.<\/p>\n
Jacques Villeneuve has proposed a new theory explaining Oscar Piastri\u2019s dip in performance<\/p>\n
Piastri now trails McLaren teammate Lando Norris by a single point after finishing fifth in the Mexico City Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Norris won the race to reclaim the lead in the drivers\u2019 standings for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix \u2013 Round 5 of the season.<\/p>\n
During the opening rounds, Piastri proved more than a match for his more experienced colleague, winning five times in eight races from the Chinese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been tougher going more recently, coinciding with the chasing pack closing in on McLaren after the squad enjoyed a healthy performance margin earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
Following his retirement at the Dutch Grand Prix, a race won by Piastri, Norris has finished off the podium just once.<\/p>\n
That came in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where his Australian colleague crashed out on the opening lap.<\/p>\n
Since then, Piastri has finished fourth in Singapore, and then fifth in both the United States and Mexico City Grands Prix.<\/p>\n
That has prompted Villeneuve to suggest that, as the pressure has mounted, the nine-time race winner has wilted while Norris has risen to the occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see it in every sport,\u201d Villeneuve said on The F1 Show.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have teams that will have an average season \u2013 I\u2019m not talking racing now, in any sport \u2013 then you get closer and closer to finals, to the playoffs, and suddenly they\u2019re the best team out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd why? For what reason? They were average all season, and teams that have been winning every game, they collapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that concept Villeneuve suggests is at play among the McLaren duo, with Piastri having flattered against his teammate with a dominant car at his disposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have an extremely fantastic Lando early in the season, not the Lando we had that last at the end of last year,\u201d Villeneuve argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kept saying, \u2018oh, that\u2019s because Piastri has stepped up, he\u2019s now on Lando\u2019s pace, and even quicker\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut was it actually Piastri stepping up, or Lando that just wasn\u2019t on it?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe kept saying he wasn\u2019t very comfortable with the car, and maybe that made Piastri complacent a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen all you have to fight is your teammate, maybe you don\u2019t push to that last limit, that last tenth of a second.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuddenly we get Baku and we get Max [Verstappen] that\u2019s winning everything, and Lando stepped up.<\/p>\n
\u201cLando is driving faster and better than he\u2019s been all season, and Piastri is not stepping up. He was already at his limit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have to go that extra two tenths \u2013 and Martin [Brundle] will have had the same issues when he was racing \u2013 certainly you find problems in the car that did not exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you drive within the limit, the car is perfect. It\u2019s easy. You drive, you save your tyres, and suddenly you have to go a couple of tenths faster, you can\u2019t drive the car anymore. Everything is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
More on Oscar Piastri\u2019s title hopes<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc49 \u2018Something\u2019s just gone wrong\u2019 for Oscar Piastri as Brundle rubbishes McLaren theories<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Guenther Steiner delivers Oscar Piastri \u2018not good enough\u2019 blow<\/a><\/p>\n Villeneuve argued the lack of updates serve only to underscore his opinion.<\/p>\n McLaren switched off development of its F1 2025 car early ahead of significant new rules for next season, channelling its resources into that project.<\/p>\n That has seen the chasing pack reel in the papaya machinery, giving rise to the likes of Verstappen in the drivers\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n But unable to deliver performances as he did earlier in the season, while Norris car, has left Villeneuve to suggest that Piastri is somewhat caught in his own head.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the same car. It hasn\u2019t evolved that much, so there\u2019s no reason for it to be driven differently,\u201d Villeneuve said.<\/p>\n \u201cSame tyres, it\u2019s Pirellis, they don\u2019t change; sometimes they\u2019re softer, sometimes they\u2019re not, the track is warmer and so on, but there isn\u2019t that big of a difference.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it just [needs] your teammate to step up a little bit, and you\u2019re realising, \u2018Oh, how do I do that?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt gets in your head, and you just get slower and slower and slower, and you start inventing setups that don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n \u201cYou start doubting your way of driving. You look at the data and you say, \u2018Oh, my teammate is one point quicker in that corner, I need to drive differently\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when it goes wrong. You have to remember what you were doing that was good, and just step up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1, and much more!<\/p>\n