Oscar Piastri believes conspiracy theory against him as F1 title comes down to Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
A bombshell claim has swept the F1 world, with a former world champion declaring Oscar Piastri believes McLaren doesn’t want him to win.
F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has sensationally claimed that Oscar Piastri believes McLaren doesn’t want him to win the championship as favouritism drama erupts following the Qatar Grand Prix.
Piastri had the perfect chance to close the gap on Lando Norris in Qatar, with the Aussie being the fastest driver all weekend.
But his chances of victory went up in smoke as McLaren’s race strategy blew up spectacularly, effectively gifting the race to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
It means Norris has one hand on the trophy with a 12-point lead on Verstappen and a 16-point lead on Piastri ahead of the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
The 24-year-old is now a long shot and requires a miracle to win the title, needing not only to win but for Norris to DNF or finish sixth or lower.
It again saw ugly accusations emerge that McLaren not only favours Norris but wants him to win instead of Piastri.
That was only further fuelled when team members failed to show up to support Piastri in the parc ferme as Verstappen and Carlos Sainz celebrated with their respective teams.
Piastri cut a dejected figure after the race and was clearly annoyed with his team bungling what looked like a certain win.
And such is his dismay and dejection about the back-end of the season that Villeneuve believes the Aussie likely believes the conspiracy theory that his team wants Norris to win the drivers’ championship over him.
“Over the years, you’ve heard so many teams or drivers, where one side of a team complains about conspiracies, and then it turns out that it was the other way around,” the F1 champ told CoinPoker.
“Once you’re on the losing end or you’re in a bad spell, everything goes through your mind, and then you have people that talk to you saying, ‘Of course they’re trying to shaft you. Of course, they’re trying to bring you down.’
“Then you start believing it and because you believe it, you make it happen.”
Despite Piastri remaining a mathematical chance to be crowned champion, it has been widely speculated that the Melburnian could still be treated as the team’s No. 2 driver this weekend, with Norris shown preferential treatment with pit-stops and qualifying positioning.
It will be the biggest test of Piastri’s loyalty so far in a season that has been riddled with cases where the Aussie has sacrificed himself to follow team instructions.
The most notable of those was at the Italian Grand Prix when he was told to swap places with Norris after the Brit copped a slow pit stop. Piastri complied and handed back the position.
But according to Villeneuve, Piastri may not be as agreeable to listen to team orders this weekend with the title on the line.
“Will Piastri help Norris win the championship if he can’t? No, because until the last lap Piastri could still win the championship,” Villeneuve told CoinPoker.
“On the last lap, both Max and Norris could blow an engine.”
The Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix will be held on Monday morning at 12am (AEDT).
Originally published as Oscar Piastri believes conspiracy theory against him as F1 title comes down to Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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