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Piastri's ex-coach addresses McLaren's "suspicious" strategy
Emily Benammar • October 28th, 2025 11:19 am
While the recent form slump of Oscar Piastri might look suspicious, it is not part of a conspiracy theory to ensure Lando Norris wins the driver's title, according to a McLaren “insider”.
Kim Keedle, Piastri’s former high performance coach, insists what we are seeing play out in the race to become world champion is “simply F1”.
Yesterday’s Mexican Grand Prix saw the Aussie driver relinquish his lead in the title race for the first time since the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix and he now trails teammate Norris by a single point with four races left this season.
Piastri has been on a downward trend in recent weeks having not finished on the podium since Monza on September 7.
Norris meanwhile has been top three in every race since Italy.
While Aussie media types in particular are crying preferential treatment, the truth of the matter is, Piastri has struggled to adapt to car updates where perhaps his British teammate has not.
“There are always swings and roundabouts in F1,” Keedle said on SEN Breakfast. “They both strong drivers and Norris fighting back was expected. We have come off a few races that are not Oscar’s strengths, but he will be fine. It’s not easy to win a championship. I’m confident he will get it done.
“I know how McLaren operates and they have handled this well internally. I understand how it might look suspicious externally.
“The difficult thing with F1 (is that) throughout the season there is so much development going on. At the start (of the season) McLaren was the fastest car and Red Bull have caught up. Mercedes and Ferrari come in and have their strong races too.
“Throw in some maybe lost confident and poor races for Oscar, I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories, I think its all above board and fair.”
One thing that is certain for Piastri is the next six weeks of the season will bring with it the most pressure he has ever felt.
Despite losing a grip on his title race lead, he is still in line to become Australia’s first world champion in 45 years.
So how does he handle the expectation?
“Mentally he will be coping well,” Keedle continued. “He works hard on dealing with that. He understands this is a big part of performance.
“It’s tough for him at the moment but all athletes have pressure, and you have to be able to deal with it if you want to succeed.
“Managing demands around the drivers, it’s the hardest thing Oscar found when he first came in, all the extra things besides the driving.
“They’re all things that can take away from you as a driver, you have to learn to deal with these things.”
When it comes to working with the likes of Piastri and also Romain Grosjean – Keedle’s client before aligning with McLaren – how do they handle fear?
The danger levels of the sport are well documented, not least by the two marshals caught on the track during the Mexico Grand prix at the weekend who came seconds from being hit by New Zealand driver Liam Lawson.
“After a big crash that a driver has witnessed, or as they get older, fear starts to creep into the mind but as a general rule, no they don’t get scared,” Keedle said.
“I was with Grosjean when he had his big accident and the car was on fire. He was lucky to live. That was a full-on week.
“He was either unconscious in a burning car or something worse. He was in hospital for a week and that and then flew home.
“He had mental demons after that. It was probably fortunate he was finishing his f1 career after that. It was a blessing in disguise in some respects.”
