Can Piastri make a comeback in the F1 title race? Our writers have their say

The Formula 1 championship battle has turned on its head in just a couple of months. Oscar Piastri has been unable to maintain his comfortable lead over Lando Norris and now finds himself one point behind his team-mate in the standings, with Max Verstappen hot on his heels.

Losing that many points in just five races is a worrying sign, but does that mean the Australian is now unable to compete with his team-mate and the Red Bull driver? Our writers have their say.

Piastri has lost all momentum and it is hard to regain that – Ed Hardy

Fans often hold drivers to an unrealistically high standard and when they inevitably fail to meet said expectation, the mocking games begin. That has been seen recently with Oscar Piastri, who until Monza had been near-on faultless, brushing off any pressure that may come with an F1 title fight.

But there was always going to be a point in the 2025 season where Piastri began facing serious questions. That time is now. The Australian has seen his 34-point advantage over Lando Norris post-Zandvoort suddenly turn into a one-point deficit following an extremely poor run of form that included crashing out on lap one in Baku.

It appears as though Piastri has finally started feeling the pressure, but we mustn’t forget that this is a 24-year-old in his third year of F1. It was extremely unrealistic to expect him to go through the whole season without any peaks-and-troughs because quite frankly, he’s still relatively inexperienced at this level and compared to who he is fighting against.

Piastri has immense talent, huge potential and there’s still a small chance that he can turn things around. But it appears as though the momentum has swung too far in the opposite direction.

Norris is flying, he has outscored his McLaren team-mate in the past five grands prix and has hit form at the right time. He is showing all the traits of a world champion and Piastri is not. It is made worse by the fact that of the final four rounds, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, it is only Qatar that Piastri has been stronger than his team-mate at.

Writing him off would be a mistake – Oleg Karpov

To be fair, nobody expected that from Oscar Piastri. He probably surprised himself with his recent poor form, which was a stark contrast to what he had shown so far this year.

However, while it’s easy to see a pattern here, there are always other factors to consider. Piastri hasn’t had five bad weekends in a row – far from it. He lost only three points to Lando Norris in Monza and the same number in Singapore. On both occasions, some may claim he was also a victim of the ‘papaya rules’. Had he said no in Italy or defended more aggressively in the first sequence of corners in Singapore, his championship position would still look a lot better.

However, there’s no hiding the fact that Baku was a disaster, and he simply lacked pace compared to Norris in Austin and Mexico. But there’s nothing wrong with being a few tenths of a second behind your team-mate at certain tracks. The reason Piastri lost so many points compared to Norris in recent races is that McLaren is not as dominant as it was before, and the Australian’s dip in form coincided with the point at which the Woking-based team’s rivals began to catch up with them. They can’t afford to have a “weekend off” and still finish second anymore.

So, while the situation looks grim, there’s nothing to suggest that Piastri can’t turn things around.

In Mexico, as Andrea Stella explained, he was taken by surprise by the track’s specific demands on driving style – and that won’t be a problem in Brazil, Vegas or the Middle Eastern races.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

Piastri has proven that he is a fast learner, and we shouldn’t forget that this is only his third season in Formula 1. He performed well in the first half of the season, but expecting him to make it through the whole campaign without any setbacks was probably too much.

There’s no question that he’ll need all his self-control not to hit the panic button. But that should be manageable. Winning the championship won’t be easy, but it’d be a huge mistake to write him off after a a few difficult weekends.

Piastri starts the final four races from a clean slate – Fil Cleeren

It would be a concern if there was strong evidence of Oscar Piastri’s form spiralling out of control or signs of the young Aussie feeling the pressure of the title fight. That hasn’t really been the case. And let’s not start about ludicrous conspiracy theories.

Yes, Baku was messy, but in Singapore he still qualified ahead of Lando Norris. The main reason behind low-key weekends in Austin and Mexico appear technical in nature. Piastri seems at his best when grip levels are high, his car is on rails and he can send it with full commitment.

But when the car starts sliding in low grip conditions, and that turns out to be a way to wring a lap time out of the MCL39, that is something that isn’t part of Piastri’s natural driving style. What was working for him so well over the majority of 2025 suddenly stopped working over the past two, leaving both him and the team with some work to do to adapt. According to team boss Andrea Stella, there was already evidence that he was applying those lessons on Sunday, even if traffic meant he couldn’t fully exploit it.

However, the next four races in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi should be a different story for the 24-year-old, all held in very different conditions than Mexico. Yes, his points lead has been reset, but so has his ability to start the Interlagos weekend from a clean slate and show why his title campaign is no coincidence.

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– The Autosport.com Team