Oscar Piastri defies McLaren bosses in dramatic bid for Formula 1 title
The Formula 1 title fight has taken a dramatic twist as Oscar Piastri tells his own team to get stuffed after being asked to play second fiddle to Lando Norris.
The nerve! The hide! Makes my blood boil. McLaren bosses asked Oscar Piastri to help Lando Norris win the Formula 1 championship at this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. They seem to have done it with a straight face.
A countenance nearly as direct and dismissive as the one Piastri supplied while delivering his considered and heartfelt reply. Get stuffed.
Piastri and Max Verstappen trail Norris by 24 points with a sprint and two grands prix remaining. Fifty-eight points are on the table. Mathematics is not my strongest suit and yet I’m assured 58 minus 24 is 34, and so there’s still hope for Piastri and mad, magnificent, momentum-laden Max to ambush Norris in back-to-back thriller weekends at Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The smooth-tongued bosses at McLaren have been adamant Piastri and Norris will race all year. Fight it out till the death. When Piastri led the standings by a whopping 34 points in August, nobody was asking Norris to play a supporting role. Now the Englishman is close to winning, Piastri is requested to provide assistance when he can still win the whole shebang himself? Blood is boiling like it’s in a Shakespearean witches cauldron. He should have replied like we did when The Angels were singing Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again. No way, get nicked, nick off.
“We’ve had a very brief discussion on it and the answer is no,” Piastri said. “I’m still equal on points with Max and I’ve got a decent shot of still winning it if things go my way so, yeah, that’s how we’ll play.”
Piastri was too accommodating with McLaren’s so-called papaya rules this year. Piastri rules would have served him better. Verstappen wouldn’t have copped the subtle and not-so-subtle massages about being the number two driver. In his early days at Red Bull, signalling the end of Daniel Ricciardo’s tenure, Verstappen made it clear he was either number one or out the door.
“Why would you suddenly now say that Oscar wouldn’t be allowed anymore to race?” Verstappen said. “If that was said to me, I would have not rocked up. If you’re a real winner and a racer, as a driver, then you go for it. I mean, even if you’re behind. What’s the point otherwise in turning up? You can just easily label yourself as a number two driver, which I think he doesn’t want to be. I think you can’t do a better job than allowing them to race. Hopefully we can make it a great battle until the end.”
Assuming Norris continues to make podiums, at least, Piastri and Verstappen need to win Qatar and Abu Dhabi to grab the title. Norris has the championship in his keeping unless he chokes or crashes. Podiums will probably get the job done but F1 crowns have been won at the last gasp on umpteen prior occasions.
Close to home for Piastri, his manager, Mark Webber, was in a shootout for the title in 2010, when his teammate Sebastian Vettel came from the clouds and 15 points in arrears to win.
“I think there’s still a chance,” Piastri said. “It’s played out that way a couple of times before. I know it’s not impossible. Obviously, I also know that it’s a bit of an outside shot. I can’t just rely on having a perfect final two weekends. I need other things to go my way and I’m very aware of that. I’m just going to try and have the best weekends I can, which I try and do every weekend, and see what happens to everyone else.
“Regardless of what the championship picture looks like for others, everyone is going out there to try and fight for wins and podiums. I don’t expect anyone to make life easy.”
McLaren expected Piastri to make life easy for Norris. Nerve! Hide! Good on him for telling his bosses no way, get nicked, nick off. Wish he’d been as bullish earlier in the season. The equations from here are simple enough. If Norris is 25 points ahead after Qatar, he’s world champion in time for dinner on Sunday. Otherwise, the fight goes to Abu Dhabi, where a tie on the standings will favour Norris. The countback is decided by second-place finishes … and he has heaps.
Piastri says: “This is one of my favourite circuits on the calendar. I have great memories around this track, especially my first win in F1 in the 2023 sprint. It’s fast and flowing, has lots of medium and high-speed sections and is good for overtaking. I’m looking forward to both races and the chance to get on the front foot.”
You suspect Norris fears Verstappen more than Piastri. No way, get nicked, nick off, he reckons. “Both are the same, I think,” he says. “They’re just as good as one another. I know what Max is capable of and I think Oscar is capable of exactly the same as what Max can do. So, no, I think both have pros and cons … Max being in a different team but Oscar being in the same team … each driver wants to fight for their own thing and prove they’re the best. They’re both competitive. They’re both very strong. They’re both incredible drivers and I’m excited to give them a fight.”
Norris looked truly home and hosed when he took the chequered flag at last weekend’s Las Vegas GP – only for both McLarens to be disqualified for technical breaches. “The gap before Vegas was 24 points and it’s still 24 points. My lead is the same,” Norris says.
“Nothing needs to change. We were quick last weekend. We know Red Bull have been quick lately and we expect them to be even quicker this weekend. But there’s nothing that needs to change from anyone’s side. We’ve treated Max and Red Bull as a great team and a great competitor the whole season. That continues now. So, no, nothing changes.”
McLaren boss Zak Brown was engaged in deep and intense discussion with Norris right before the Vegas GP. When he moved to Piastri’s car, it wasn’t quite a no way, get nicked, but there was a quick handshake and little else.
Over at Red Bull, it’s Verstappen, Verstappen, Verstappen. He won’t die wondering.
“All in,” he says.
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