Once the dominant force in the McLaren camp, Oscar Piastri now finds his once-comfortable points buffer evaporating — and quickly.
After a difficult weekend at the US GP in Austin, where a crash in the sprint and a fifth-place finish in the main race saw his lead shrink to just 14 points over teammate Lando Norris and 40 over Max Verstappen, Piastri, however, insists that his title ambitions remain firmly intact.
At the start of the season, Piastri looked ice-cool: winning race after race, consistently extracting the maximum from the car and building what seemed like an unassailable lead. But in the closing stages, some unforced errors and a bit of misfortune — from a first-corner sprint crash to difficulties during qualifying — have raised questions about whether the pressure of a charging Norris and a resurgent Verstappen is starting to get to him.
While the spotlight may be burning bright on Verstappen at the moment for his recent run of wins, Norris has also been close by, chipping away at his teammate’s lead.
Piastri addressed the media after Austin with his usual calm demeanour:
“You know, I’ve been in fights that were as close — or at this point even closer — than what they are now,” he said.
“I’ve got the evidence for myself that things can still turn out well and I still fully believe that I can win the championship. I don’t have any major concerns.
“This weekend has obviously been tough, and the gap has come down a little bit in the last few weekends … but performance is what’s going to win you a championship, not just looking at points and seeing if you can increase it or decrease it.
“The faster you go, the more points you’re going to score, and that’s what I’ll focus on,” Piastri added.
From the team’s perspective, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella remains outwardly confident despite the narrowing margin.
“I think in terms of the trend (Sunday), it is a relatively reassuring race … I think Lando had the pace to win. Performance-wise, I think we are reassured that the pace was sufficient to fight for the victory,” Stella said, after the Austin GP.
He was also clear that while rival Red Bull has found late-season form, the outcome remains in McLaren’s hands.
“For me, there’s no mystery. We know that when Max has the material to win, he becomes a very serious candidate. We just have to keep maximising performance and keep executing good weekends. The outcome of this season and the drivers’ championship is in our hands; it’s not in someone else’s hands.”
So, where does that leave Piastri?
On the one hand, the momentum is no longer solely his — and the cushion he built has shrunk significantly. The number of mistakes (from intra-team collisions to being off the pace) suggests the pressure may be creeping into his thoughts and spilling over into his actions.
On the other hand, he still leads the standings, credits himself with the experience of tighter fights, and is publicly unfazed.
Whether he can hold on through the remaining races is now the big question.
Can he regain the form that made him appear unstoppable earlier in the year?
Or will the late-season wave of momentum Verstappen is riding outpace the Australian?
If Piastri can get back into that zone, sharpen his qualifying pace and avoid further mishaps, McLaren may still take home both titles this year. But if errors persist and pressure mounts, the margin he once had may unravel.
Can his understated confidence translate into results when it matters most?
