Oscar Piastri \u2018secret weapon\u2019 as \u2018assassin\u2019 ally under the microscope<\/a><\/p>\nMax Verstappen has been on a mission. Since Formula 1 returned from the summer break, he has finished on the podium at every round. That streak included winning the Italian, Azerbaijan, and United States GPs.<\/p>\n
His hopes of securing a fifth straight Drivers\u2019 title may have taken a major hit in Brazil, where Norris put 49 points between him and the Dutchman, but Steiner believes that Verstappen will successfully catch and pass Piastri for second.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys saw what happened in Brazil, or not in Brazil, the last four races. So, why not?\u201d Steiner reasoned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, he continues to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you say that Oscar is now destroyed mentally, I mean, Max will be ahead of him, absolutely. And Max is motivated like hell. As we can see in Brazil, he didn\u2019t give up after a crappy qualifying. He rolled his sleeves up and made it better, and finished on the podium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Piastri remain in this rut until season\u2019s end, Steiner was asked what this would do to the Aussie\u2019s reputation going forward.<\/p>\n
One thing it would do, in Steiner\u2019s estimation, is bring forward the date to leave the team, should Piastri not come back better than ever in F1 2026.<\/p>\n
This is only his third Formula 1 season, compared to Norris\u2019 seventh, though it would be a painful defeat having been in such a commanding position to seal the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if that is happening, he just needs to regroup over the winter and come back stronger than before,\u201d said Steiner.<\/p>\n
\u201cOtherwise, if he doesn\u2019t come back stronger, I think the best is that he changes teams then. That\u2019s my opinion about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause otherwise, you don\u2019t get it back. But he could come back, because I still rate him highly.\u201d<\/p>\n
PF1: It\u2019s too early for talk of the Oscar Piastri and McLaren demise<\/p>\n
This is a critical point in the F1 career of Oscar Piastri, but there is not yet a valid reason to start questioning his McLaren future.<\/p>\n
Sure, Piastri has lost that aura of unflappability over recent months. He never seemed like the kind of driver who would suffer from the pressure of an F1 title fight. But the keyword there is F1.<\/p>\n
He hoovered up the championship trophies on the junior scene, but the first indication of how a driver will deal with the pressure of fighting for the F1 title comes when they are actually doing it.<\/p>\n
Piastri has had some rough weekends, and with Formula 1 as ultra-competitive as it is now, just the slightest knock in confidence, or the slightest disconnect with the car, will allow a Norris, or a Verstappen, or a George Russell, or a Kimi Antonelli, or a Charles Leclerc to take advantage. Suddenly, in Piastri\u2019s case, points are being lost.<\/p>\n
But the saying \u2018you\u2019re only as good as your last race\u2019 rings especially true in Formula 1. If Piastri goes and wins in Las Vegas, or at least takes a chunk out of Norris\u2019 lead, suddenly, this rough patch will be forgotten, and he will be on that big quest to dramatically rebound and win the title, as the driver with momentum.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not forget that Piastri could easily have finished second in Brazil without his 10-second penalty.<\/p>\n
So, Piastri is not necessarily broken; he is not finished at McLaren. Even if this is not his year, F1 2026 may be. Perhaps it is F1 2027.<\/p>\n
Two defeats to Lewis Hamilton didn\u2019t stop Nico Rosberg from winning the 2016 crown, for example.<\/p>\n
Read next: Red Bull boss quizzed on Max Verstappen engine as McLaren raise cost cap query<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guenther Steiner believes that Oscar Piastri should bid McLaren farewell and continue his Formula 1 career elsewhere, either…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,3552,818,913,44,2333,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-286896","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-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286896","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=286896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}