Oscar Piastri is seeing his teammate Lando Norris closing in on him in the drivers’ championship. After the controversial team order from McLaren in Italy – which cost Piastri World Championship points in his battle with Norris – Piastri finished the subsequent Azerbaijan Grand Prix without points and with a crash into the barriers. According to former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, there’s a reason behind the Australian’s disappointing weekends since the Dutch GP: ‘He has started doubting himself.’
Oscar Piastri still leads the drivers’ championship, but sees teammate Lando Norris catching up after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Australian’s race on the streets of Baku was over in the first round, when Piastri parked his car in the barriers due to a miscalculation. The difference between the two McLaren drivers is now 25 World Championship points. That number was still 34 points after Norris’ dropout at Zandvoort.
Doubts
According to former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, it’s no surprise that Piastri has adjusted his approach to the championship after the Dutch GP. “We’re seeing a side of Oscar that no one has seen before,” the Colombian tells F1TV. “I think even Oscar hasn’t seen that side of himself before. He went to Monza thinking: ‘Oh, I’m in a comfortable position, so I won’t change my approach.’ I then already said in Monza that he would do that mentally. Because whether you want to or not, you start doubting yourself.”
Montoya then also specifically explains what the Australian has started doubting, according to him. “On the one hand, you think: ‘I’m not going fast enough, because it’s not necessary’, and then you want to prove to yourself that you are going fast enough. At that moment, you drive the car into the wall.”
