Oscar Piastri’s F1 world title ‘in danger’ over McLaren moves
As speculation builds over perceived McLaren favouritism, the team has been urged to make a key move over Aussie Oscar Piastri.
McLaren needs to back Oscar Piastri in this year’s F1 world title fight or risk losing the drivers’ championship all together.
That’s the opinion of former Haas team boss and Drive to Survive star Guenther Steiner.
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Speculation only gets louder that the McLaren team would prefer British driver Lando Norris to win this year’s title over Piastri, despite the Aussie holding a 22-point lead with just six races remaining.
There have been repeated reports of perceived favouritism over issues like pit stops and track positions, with F1 pundits and conspiracy theorists having a field day in recent weeks.
Piastri was furious when Norris pulled off an audacious passing move on the first lap in Singapore in the most recent Grand Prix, with the cars touching before the Brit secured the final spot on the podium behind George Russell and Max Verstappen.
What was viewed as a two-horse race to the title has narrowed after Dutchman Verstappen picked up two race wins and two seconds in the past four events to close the gap to Piastri to 63 points.
But with the constructors’ title now secured, Steiner told CODE Sports the “logical choice” is for McLaren to back Piastri “because he is in front of Lando”.
And he believes if McLaren stick with the widely maligned ‘Papaya Rules’, they may not end the season with a coveted drivers’ title at all, which would be their first since Lewis Hamilton way back in 2008.
“I wouldn’t let them go for it because then you risk to lose the championship,” Steiner said of the battle between Piastri and Norris.
“I think at some stage it is even in danger that they lose the drivers’ world championship because they fight between them and obviously Max Verstappen, Red Bull make a good step forward in the last races, you must say.
“The Mercedes is strong, obviously the Mercedes cannot catch them.
“But the Mercedes could take points away from them like they did in Singapore.”
Steiner’s take comes after McLaren boss Zak Brown hit out at accusations he never wanted to sign Piastri ahead of the 2023 F1 season.
The claim emerged last week when former McLaren reserve driver Alex Palou told a British court he was left angry when the team signed Piastri ahead of him to partner Norris.
Palou claimed he had been told by Brown that the decision to recruit Piastri from Alpine had been made by former team principal Andreas Seidl.
Brown has now fired back ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Texas.
“I’m not sure which allegation amused me more — the notion that I would not be the one making a key decision about our driver line-up, or the suggestion that I wasn’t on board with signing the hugely talented Oscar Piastri,” Brown told Reuters.
“Both allegations are clearly ludicrous – and anyone who follows our sport will see straight through them.
“We have the absolute best driver pairing on the F1 grid in Oscar and Lando. I could not be more thrilled with their incredible performance and their sportsmanship.
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“I’m excited for the awesome racing we’re going to see for the rest of the season.”
The United States Grand Prix will take place at 6am on Monday October 20 on Kayo Sports and Foxtel.
Read much more of Guenther Steiner’s interview with CODE Sports here
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