There are moments in Formula 1 when the weight of the crown becomes unbearable. Oscar piastri is experiencing one of these moments, and the 2025 world title that seemed certain to slip away dramatically.
Let's rewind the tape: ZandvoortFour races ago. An engine problem sidelined Lando Norris, Piastri won and moved to a 34-point lead over his teammate, a whopping 104 points over Max Verstappen.
The title seems like a formality, the Australian appears untouchable. Today, on the eve of the Mexican Grand Prix, that advantage has shrunk to 14 points over Norris and 40 over Verstappen.
A sporting debacle that deserves an in-depth analysis.
The metamorphosis of roles
For months, we've witnessed a consistent dynamic: Oscar Piastri, cool, imperturbable, almost glacial in his efficiency; Norris, emotional, prey to his own anxieties and paranoia. With five races to go, the roles have dramatically reversed. The Briton is racing toward his goal, while the Australian seems to be groping in the dark, chasing a speed he can no longer find.
Anxiety is a sneaky enemy, and the thought of losing your first world title breeds monsters. The last few weekends bear witness to this: the mistakes in Baku, the complaints over the radio in Monza and Singapore, the desperate maneuver in the Austin Sprint.
The latter, in particular, speaks louder than any other technical analysis: it wasn't a move dictated by a desire to win, but by the need to re-establish internal hierarchies that were evidently no longer clear to him.
The weight of the crown for Oscar Piastri
The shift from favorite status to the title was the turning point. When Norris was ahead, Piastri rode freely, without pressure. Now that the label is his, the twenty-three-year-old Australian is discovering that riding with the spotlight trained on him is a different matter. And the numbers brutally prove it: after a streak of eight consecutive podiums, five of them victories, the crisis came suddenly and devastatingly.
Baku represented the lowest point: retired in qualifying and out of the race without completing a lap, after having triumphed on the same circuit the previous year.A silly and simple mistake“, he admitted with uncharacteristic vulnerability. In Singapore and Austin, however, speed was simply lacking, the same speed that had dominated the first two-thirds of the season.
The cracks inside McLaren
But there's more. The team's internal dynamics no longer seem so crystal clear. The Monza incident, with Oscar Piastri forced to act as Norris's pacesetter in qualifying, has left a lasting impression. The slow pit stop that allowed the Australian to pass his teammate prompted a vitriolic comment: "We said that a slow pit stop is part of the race, I don't understand what changed".
Singapore further raised the temperature: Norris' aggressive maneuver that almost sent Piastri into the wall, the fourth place while his teammate celebrated on the podium, the outburst on the radio (“It's not fair, I'm sorry, it's not fair“). And then the rumors of “repercussions” for Norris, never denied or confirmed, but enough to create an atmosphere of palpable tension.
Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal, after the accident in the Sprint Race at Austin he used strong words: “Piastri must learn to drive in all conditions".
A sentence that sounds like an ultimatum, even more significant considering it comes after a weekend in which the accident with Hulkenberg forced both drivers to retire.
The technical factor
Not everything is mental, of course. Jenson Button, who knows a thing or two about global pressure, has grasped a crucial aspect: “You might go in a slightly wrong direction with the setup and it's hard to find your way out.“. The modification to the front suspension introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix he transformed Norris, while Piastri seems not to have found the same key to understanding him.
The Australian himself, after his fifth place in Austin, candidly admitted: “I have no bright ideas on where to find time with the car“For someone who had dominated with apparent ease until recently, it is an alarming confession.
The verdict of Mexico
Now the circus moves to Mexico City, and for Piastri, it's the last call before the situation becomes irreparable. Verstappen has recovered to -40, Red Bull has regained competitiveness, and above all, Norris has acquired that killer mentality that he lacked until a few races ago.
The 2025 championship will be decided in the details, in the mistakes you can't afford, in your ability to handle the pressure when the whole world is watching. Piastri, who should have become the first Australian world champion since Alan Jones in 1980, finds himself at a crossroads: either he regains the composure that brought him to the top, or he'll see the dream of a lifetime vanish.
The cruel paradox of Formula 1 is that it's often not the fastest who wins, but the one who best manages the weight of the crown. And right now, that crown weighs like a millstone on the shoulders of the young man from Melbourne.
With five games to go, every point counts. But even more so, the mindset. And that, today, seems to be Oscar Piastri's real problem.
Better not to field him in Fanta F1, what do you say?
