Autobayng News Team
Oscar Piastri admitted he did not expect the 104-point lead he held over Max Verstappen after the Dutch Grand Prix would be eradicated in just seven rounds.
His lead over the reigning world champion peaked when Piastri scored his seventh victory of the season at Zandvoort in August. However Piastri hasn’t won a race since then.
He lost the championship lead to team mate Lando Norris at the Mexican Grand Prix. The disqualification of both McLarens after the Las Vegas Grand Prix last weekend means Verstappen is now level with Piastri on points.
“It’s been overturned quicker than I thought,” said Piastri ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. “Obviously I’ve lost 50 of those points from two races, in a DNF [in Azerbaijan] and a disqualification.
“But obviously a lot of things outside of that have been tough in the second part of the year. Red Bull and Max have clearly found some pace.
“I think a lot of things have unfolded differently to how I’d hoped or how I expected in the second half of the year, but there’s nothing I can do to change that now so I’m just trying to focus on how I can finish the year on a high.”
He said the cause of their disqualification last week was “pretty simple.”
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“We’ve discussed and analysed Vegas,” said Piastri. “Ultimately we had a lot more porpoising than we expected and ultimately a lot more grounding than we expected because of that.”
Piastri also hasn’t out-scored Norris since the race at Zandvoort. However he remains hopeful he can perform better in Losail.
“There’s been a lot of things that have happened,” Piastri told the official Formula 1 channel. “There’s been a couple of weekends where clearly the pace has not been as good as I wanted. There’s been other things as well: incidents, some bits of bad luck, mistakes. So it’s a combination of lots of things, really.
“But I’m still confident that we can have a good weekend here in Qatar. It’s a track I enjoy. So hopefully we can have a good weekend and have some better results than the last few races.”
McLaren have said they will continue to give both drivers an equal chance to fight for the championship this weekend, despite the growing threat from Verstappen. However Piastri said the points situation means that whether he can win the title or not is no longer in his hands.
“It can definitely still go my way, but not everything is within my control now,” he said. “I need to be there and put myself in the best position that if things happen that I can capitalise and that’s all I can try and do really.”
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2025 Qatar Grand Prix
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