The Shift in Direction in the Formula One World Championship
Image by Austin Loveing via Getty Images
By Yahya Mahmoud
“I was overdriving”. These are the words Oscar Piastri used to describe his horror race weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Speaking on the latest episode of the Beyond the Grid Podcast, he reflected heavily on the previous couple of races as the Formula One circus heads to its climax in Abu Dhabi in a few weeks.
Piastri has not stood on the podium since finishing third at the Italian Grand Prix back in September. Since Monza he has scored a total of 32 points across four of the five races he has finished, whilst his teammate Lando Norris has scored 115 points. This is the reason Norris is leading the drivers’ championship by 24 points going into the last triple-header of races in the season.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen in the same period has scored 136 points. From a dominant drive in Bahrain to win the race by 15.5 seconds back in April, Piastri’s sudden change in pace is evident. Speaking to Tom Clarkson on the Beyond the Grid Podcast, Piastri claimed that the swap in Monza has greatly affected his mentality.
Oscar Piastri crashes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by Rudy Carezzevoli via Getty Images
The cool, calm and collected Australian famously known to his fans as the second coming of Kimi Räikkönen, has started to break under the pressure of fighting for the world championship. Piastri said: “Ultimately, Baku was the perfect storm of quite a few things. Obviously, it was a pretty terrible weekend, but I think the amount of learning we had from that weekend, from a technical point of view and an emotional point of view.”
This shows how his mentality has switched from focusing on himself and his driving to focusing on what others think and how the championship is slowly slipping away from him. The Australian is trying to become the first champion from his country since Alan Jones took the title at the Canadian Grand Prix back in September 1980, 45 years ago.
Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo by Paul Gilham via Getty Images
For Australia, the F1 world championship has been at the tip of their fingers in the past. Mark Webber came extremely close to winning the title back in 2010, but an accident at the South Korean Grand Prix put an end to that. Aussie Daniel Ricciardo only managed two third places in the standings in both 2014 and 2016.
For the first time since 2021, the title may well be decided in the final race, whilst it is the first time since 2016 that the title decider may be decided between two teammates.
However, it remains to be seen whether Oscar Piastri is slowly but surely being overlooked by Mclaren to give Lando a better chance at winning the championship.