Follow us on Google Discover McLaren driver Oscar Piastri had a very tricky weekend during the United States Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri started the weekend 22 points clear of McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship.
However, that doesn’t tell the full story, with Piastri losing ground to Norris and Max Verstappen across the past few races.
Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix brilliantly, leading from pole position and never being under any pressure from any of the drivers around him.
The Dutchman has now moved within 40 points of Piastri in the standings as he chases a fifth consecutive title.
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 336 2 314 3 273 4 237 5 173 6 127 7 88 8 70 9 39 10 37
Piastri hasn’t finished on the podium in any of the last three races. The last time the 24-year-old went on a run like that, it started at the United States Grand Prix last year, where he didn’t return to the rostrum until Qatar.
If he repeats that trend this year, there’s no way Piastri will win his first championship this year, and it’s up to his manager, Mark Webber, to help him return to winning ways in Mexico City next year.
Commentator David Croft has now shared what Webber told him about Piastri’s mindset behind the scenes, and what he needs to do to win the title this year.
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Photo by Kym Illman/Getty ImagesMark Webber privately saying that Oscar Piastri’s ‘head’s up’ after frustrating United States Grand Prix
Croft was following Piastri while on commentary for Sky Sports F1 (19/10 9:10 pm) as he struggled to keep up with Lewis Hamilton and had to worry about George Russell behind him.
He said: “I was talking to Mark Webber, Oscar Piastri’s manager, earlier today.
“He said there was nothing wrong with Oscar, his head’s up, his chin’s up. Yeah, he’s lost a few points in his lead, but he’s got a very healthy lead out in front.
“As another race goes by, you’ve got to reverse the trend at some stage. There’s still an awful long way to go in this season, and I think it’s going to give us an absolutely blockbuster finish this year.
“Yes, I think Oscar Piastri has absolutely got the mental capacity to cope with this fight.
“If you remember back to F3, his championship-winning F3 season, his lead got whittled down there, and he coped very well there, with the pressure.”
Martin Brundle replied and said: “Yeah, and Oscar needs a solid weekend again, doesn’t he? He has to go next week.”
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Oscar Piastri reflects on his lack of rhythm at the United States Grand Prix
Piastri admitted his struggles throughout the weekend when speaking to the media after the race.
He explained: “It is very important wherever you go [to get qualifying right]. I think today, race pace could have saved you, but I didn’t really have that either. It’s something I want to work on, obviously.
“But I think qualifying has generally been consistently good; there’s obviously been highs at certain points, but this weekend, apart from Baku, has been the first weekend where it has been a letdown.
“Even if it has been sub-par before, it has still been pretty good. Some things to try and understand from this weekend because clearly it wasn’t just related to qualifying.”
RANKDRIVERTEAMPOINTS1Max VerstappenRed Bull252Lando NorrisMcLaren183Charles LeclercFerrari154Lewis HamiltonFerrari125Oscar PiastriMcLaren106George RussellMercedes87Yuki TsunodaRed Bull68Nico HulkenbergSauber49Oliver BearmanHaas210Fernando AlonsoAston Martin12025 United States Grand Prix result
Piastri admitted that he needs to work out why he couldn’t find his rhythm before suggesting that it’s still too soon for McLaren to decide to prioritise one of their drivers amid the growing threat of Verstappen.
Webber has shared his feelings about McLaren’s treatment of Piastri behind the scenes, with several decisions seemingly going against him recently.
Norris faced ‘repercussions’ for his contact with Piastri in Singapore, but it didn’t stop him from putting a further dent in his championship lead.