the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend<\/a>, where Norris\u2019 dominant win put him one point clear at the top of the standings.<\/p>\nVerstappen sits 35 points behind but has gathered momentum with a late-season resurgence.<\/p>\n
Despite being one of Piastri\u2019s strongest supporters, Steiner didn\u2019t hold back in his criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not good enough to be world champion,\u201d he said of Piastri\u2019s Mexico performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s struggling now, and I don\u2019t know what exactly is happening, but one of the things I could conclude out of it is that\u2026 he doesn\u2019t get support from the team to win the championship, you lose a little bit of your mojo.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/XPB_1382782_HiRes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri during the Mexico City Grand Prix. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
Steiner suggested McLaren\u2019s insistence on treating its drivers equally \u2014 the so-called \u201cpapaya rules\u201d \u2014 may have hurt Piastri\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think with all these papaya rules\u2026 when they let him pass, let him go, you go, I go\u2026 in the end, I think he lost a bit of confidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the season, Piastri appeared in control of the championship after four wins in five races.<\/p>\n
But since the summer break, he\u2019s managed just one victory and one further podium, leaving him vulnerable to both Norris and Verstappen.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning of the season, Oscar had no pressure because he was number two in the team, unofficially obviously. Lando was there longer, he\u2019s a lot older, he has a lot more experience,\u201d Steiner added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then I think with all the papaya rules\u2026 I think he lost a bit of confidence in races.\u201d<\/p>\n
1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve offered his own theory, suggesting Piastri may have grown complacent after leading the championship for 15 rounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe that made Piastri complacent a bit,\u201d Villeneuve told Sky Sports\u2019 F1 Show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen all you have to fight is your team-mate, maybe you don\u2019t push to that last limit, that last tenth of a second.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villeneuve said Norris\u2019 resurgence and Verstappen\u2019s charge have exposed the limits of Piastri\u2019s performance.<\/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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the mental strain of being beaten by a teammate can quickly spiral.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou start doubting your way of driving,\u201d Villeneuve said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at the data, and you say, \u2018Oh, my teammate is one tenth quicker in that corner, I need to drive differently\u2019, and that\u2019s when it goes wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
With just four races left and three drivers still in contention, Piastri faces a pivotal weekend in Brazil as he looks to silence doubts and reignite his championship fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guenther Steiner hasn’t held back on his thoughts on Oscar Piastri’s recent form. Image: XPB Images Steiner, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[82403,41179,111,139,69,7214,12411,213],"class_list":["post-115759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-guenther-steiner","tag-jacques-villeneuve","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-slot1_f1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Steiner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/XPB_1382408_HiRes.jpg\")