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Piastri's Championship hangs by a thread following calamitous Mexican GP Qualifying
SEN • October 26th, 2025 11:17 am
Oscar Piastri has put his Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship hopes at severe risk, qualifying in P7 at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Australian Championship leader has been under immense pressure in past weeks, without a Grand Prix win since August as his lead atop the standings has continued to dwindle.
And with five races remaining, Piastri sits just 14 points ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who’s outstanding Q3 lap saw the Brit land pole position ahead of a crucial race day.
Speaking on the Formula 1 call, experts Karun Chandhok and David Croft believe that Piastri’s battle with his McLaren is far from the confident driving seen within the early stages of the 2025 season.
“The car doesn’t seem to rotate and pivot as well as he would like,” Chandhok said.
“He just doesn’t seem to have the confidence to attack the entries of the corner. It just feels to me, the body language of a driver who is not quite at one with the car.
“This is not the Oscar Piastri that we saw in China, in Jeddah, where he was completely in sync with the car and really attacked the entries.
“Watching him there compared to Lando, he doesn’t look like he’s able to hustle the car as confidently as he did earlier in the season, and certainly as Lando is doing here.”
“The problem he has got, not just what you’ve described there, but the fact that there’s a lot of other drivers who are finding a little bit more pace,” Croft added.
“Still the Championship leader and your nearest contender is setting the pace, the last thing you want to be now is in P7.”
With just four rounds remaining following this weekend, Piastri must fight off teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, however qualifying leaves the Australian in a really difficult position.
If Lando Norris holds onto P1 to win the Mexican Grand Prix, Piastri must finish fourth or higher to remain ahead in the race for the Championship. A fifth place finish would see Norris take the a one-point lead heading into the closing stages of the season.
In 2024, Piastri also struggled in Mexico, finishing in eighth place. Norris finished in second, only behind Carlos Sainz's Ferrari.
