Oscar Piastri plays down sabotage claims by McLaren after bad last few F1 races, as he answers on mood with Lando Norris adding on his emotions.
For most part of the 2025 F1 season, stories of McLaren favouring Norris has been highlighted by plenty – more so on the social media side. A good section of the fans believe it to be true due to some of the team orders against Piastri, with Monza being the foremost.
After the races in Austin and Mexico where Piastri had a difficult time, questions were raised on McLaren’s credibility on providing equal cars. Fans and pundits are urging the Australian to speak up for his cause, but the youngster has put down the claims being shared online.
When asked directly about sabotage, Piastri put down those stories by stating that whatever has happened off-late, it is all explainable things. He doesn’t think he is being quiet all-long as per Jos Verstappen’s suggestions. He says he is raising his voice whenever needed.
He is not too fussed about losing the points lead to Norris, as he feels one point is not huge to be worried about as much and take the pressure. On the other hand, for the Brit as well, it is normal scenario and nothing extraordinary to say that he has dominated in races to get the lead back.
He agrees it was a relief in Mexico to see that he still can dominate, but there’s still a lot to be done. On the mindset side, Norris is happy that he is holding on well. He doesn’t think he is in the ‘nothing to lose’ mode, but states that mindset goes hand in hand with hard work and will to improve.
Sabotage, openness to put his views –
Piastri: “No, it’s not the case. I think the last couple of weekends have been a little bit more tricky, but we’ve got pretty clear answers on why that’s the case. There’s not really too many mysteries on what’s happened. I think there’s some questions on why some differences have popped up in terms of how I need to drive and stuff like that, but everything is explainable, so there’s definitely none of that going on. I think for me we’re always very open with each other in terms of what we think, whether we think things have been fair, whether we think the right decisions have been made. And from that side of things, we can stand up for ourselves. And I feel very comfortable doing that. And that’s very much encouraged by the team to make our point for ourselves individually.
“But I think it’s obviously a difficult dynamic to manage when you’ve got the two cars in the same team fighting for a championship that only one car can win. There’s obviously naturally going to be difficulties with that. But I respect the team allowing us to both try and fight for the Drivers’ Championship. I think for myself, I want to go out there and try and win the championship, knowing that I did it on my own merit and doing the things that I could do in my control. And obviously if you pick one driver, you’ve got a 50% chance that you’re not going to be that driver. So I think for me we’re very much encouraged and welcome to stand up for ourselves already. So I don’t think anything needs to change.”
Drop in performance –
Piastri: “I think Baku was obviously a bad weekend, but for extremely different reasons. It was a messy weekend from start to finish with a lot of different factors. It was a strange weekend just in terms of tyre usage as well, doing all the practice sessions on C6 tyres. We had a couple of issues on both cars, so it was just a messy weekend from start to finish, but ultimately the pace was pretty good, I was just trying a bit too hard at the end. I think Austin and Mexico have been quite different in that I feel like I’ve executed reasonably well, but the lap time has just been not there.
“I think we’ve got some evidence as to why it’s not been there, but the question as to why some things have not been working the last couple of weekends and why some things have been, that part I’m not sure I would know the answer to, but I think knowing that there’s a difference is the biggest thing. So I don’t think Baku you could argue yes, there was some other things that may be prepped in, but I think in Mexico and Austin it’s just been about lacking performance and trying to find out where to find it.”
Points difference –
Piastri: “Not massively, I don’t think, especially when it’s essentially even. It doesn’t change a whole lot, but for me the mindset all year has been about trying to just have the best weekends I can and ultimately drive as fast as I can. At no point through the weekend have I factored in more than normal my risk-taking approach or anything like that, so I think for me that doesn’t change anything now that the championship order is a bit different. But yeah, I’ll be trying to just go as fast as I can and take the same risks that I normally do, because nine times out of ten, that’s a good balance to have.”
Norris: “I think when you get reminded about it, for me it’s not something I think at all, but when I get reminded about it, just because of my friends or people you bump into, talk about it and then bring it up. I think it’s still a cool thought, just thinking about fighting for a world championship in Formula 1. Just being in a position to do that and for me to be in that position, it’s still part of my dream to be a Formula 1 driver and to try and win races, things like that. It still feels incredible, but I don’t think in terms of races and achieving the actual dream of being a champion, it doesn’t feel any different.
“I think nothing is completed, nothing is done. There are still around 120 points or something available, so it doesn’t mean anything for the time being. It’s a nice thought to look on and think about, but otherwise it’s nice to be there. But I still need to go and try and win this weekend and the next weekend and so on, that’s still my goal.”
Mindset, nothing to lose thought or not –
Norris: “Not really. I think when you say those kind of things. Maybe there’s a couple of little decisions here and there. Probably since then, three or four decisions along the way. And probably more when you’re taking risks. So in terms of racing situations or things, maybe qualifying you think, well, may as well just go for it. But it’s not like every approach, every lap I do is, I’ve got nothing to lose here. Let’s try a bit more. That’s certainly not true. I definitely wouldn’t put it down to that. I would put it more down to just having worked hard and having a very good team around me, 99% of it is down to that and 1% a mix of various different things. But most results coming from work done rather than mentality or things. But mentality has improved. Approach has improved. Preparation has improved. All of that has improved because of doing more work and working harder. And spending more time trying to understand things rather than, I’ve got nothing to lose now.
“I’ll just go for it. There’s maybe been two, three, four decisions along the way since then where I’m like, just risk a bit more. But yeah, I think much less than you think and more of it down to just work. I mean, I think so. I think it’s difficult because there’s certainly some periods that were much tougher then which I’ve worked hard to try and avoid as much as possible. So I’ve not had to deal with them. I certainly think my mentality and just general emotion in a way has gone down. I think that’s a good thing for me. Not that I’m an emotional person but I care. So I think in terms of removing some of those cares, I think this helps. And that allows me just to forget what I won last weekend, an incredible race in Mexico. I think the renown doesn’t change anything, absolutely not. It’s a very small achievement, not a bigger puzzle. I think when fighting for 10th more often or something and you win a race, it’s incredible.
“There’s a much bigger picture in mind and it feels like it means a lot less for a small amount of time. But I certainly feel like I can deal with a lot more now than what I was doing at the beginning of the season. But I was also dealing with a lot more difficulties at the beginning of the season than I am now. So it’s difficult but I always say I’m in a much better space than I was. I came for many different reasons. I definitely would say I’m much better now than what I was. It’s all part of learning. I wish I could have changed some things, maybe. But would I be as good now as if I didn’t learn those things back then? Probably not. It’s all part of learning and time and making mistakes.”
Here’s Oscar Piastri on trying different things