{"id":159328,"date":"2025-11-29T07:57:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T07:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/159328\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T07:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T07:57:18","slug":"former-f1-driver-on-oscar-piastris-form-slump-well-find-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/159328\/","title":{"rendered":"Former F1 driver on Oscar Piastri’s form slump: ‘We’ll find out’"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Coulthard won’t attempt to pinpoint the reasons for Oscar Piastri’s alarming slump, saying anything from mental fatigue to car issues could be the problem.<\/p>\n

But McLaren’s equal-most experienced driver is backing Piastri to bounce back and foot it with championship leader Lando Norris and Red Bull heavyweight Max Verstappen at the penultimate Qatar Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The title hunt is delicately poised after a dramatic ending to last week’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.<\/a><\/p>\n

Verstappen closed in on the McLaren pair after the duo were disqualified for excessive plank wear.<\/a><\/p>\n

Four-time champion Verstappen had produced a flawless drive to win in Las Vegas and move to equal second alongside Piastri in the standings, just 24 points behind Norris.<\/p>\n

Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson finished the Vegas GP in 16th, after opening lap contact with Piastri damaged his car and caused him to tumble down the order.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawson currently sits 14th in the World Driver’s Standings, mathematically out of contention for the title. <\/p>\n

Australian racer Piastri’s hopes for a maiden title are improbable, but not impossible, with 58 points up for grabs across the final two races and sprint.<\/p>\n

A grand prix victory is worth 25 points, while a sprint race win can net eight points.<\/p>\n

Piastri had led the championship by a season-high 34 points following the Dutch Grand Prix in August but has failed to finish on the podium in his past six races.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old, managed by Australia’s former F1 driver Mark Webber, has struggled to recapture his early-season form since crashing out on the opening lap at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

But Red Bull ambassador David Coulthard doesn’t doubt Piastri has the quality.<\/p>\n

“Oscar was a great talent, no question,” Coulthard told AAP.<\/p>\n

“I feel the way he filled in where he was lacking a bit last year in quality relative to Lando, that’s what built him a big championship campaign this year.<\/p>\n

“He was qualifying well, and that gave him ownership.<\/p>\n

“Mark Webber’s a buddy, but I would never compromise him by asking the straight question, ‘What the hell is going on?’<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping whatever it is that Oscar’s been struggling with the last few races, somehow magically sorts itself and he can go toe-to-toe with Lando and Max in the final two races.”<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former McLaren F1 driver David Coulthard (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Norris will this weekend overtake Coulthard for the most grand prix starts at McLaren, with the duo both reaching 150.<\/p>\n

Coulthard won 12 races with the Woking outfit and was Mika Hakkinen’s teammate for his titles in 1998 and 1999.<\/p>\n

The Scot’s best chance for a championship came in 2000 when he was within two points of Michael Schumacher with six races to go, before failing to win again.<\/p>\n

Piastri could soon find himself in a similar position after a late-season fade, with the added likelihood of watching his teammate Norris take the title. <\/p>\n

“Maybe it’s mental fatigue,” Coulthard said.<\/p>\n

“Maybe the car’s evolved with some upgrades and, although it’s improved the performance in terms of lap time, it’s taken away the balance that Oscar likes.<\/p>\n

“It could be a number of different things. We don’t know right now, but we’re going to find out.”<\/p>\n

Verstappen, searching for a fifth-straight title, also remains an outside chance, but Coulthard believes any prediction on how the championship race could be decided will be premature.<\/p>\n

“Oh my God, to try and predict anything at this stage [is too hard],” Coulthard said.<\/p>\n

“The championship is favouring Lando right now. <\/p>\n

“It’s possible [for Verstappen] … it’s probably unlikely, but not impossible.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Coulthard won’t attempt to pinpoint the reasons for Oscar Piastri’s alarming slump, saying anything from mental fatigue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-159328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159328","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=159328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}