Oscar Piastri doubt raised over possible lack of “support” from McLaren

Guenther Steiner's view on Oscar Piastri's struggles - and whether he has the full backing of McLaren

Zak Brown and Oscar Piastri
Zak Brown and Oscar Piastri

Former Haas boss Guenther Steiner has suggested Oscar Piastri is doubting whether he’s receiving sufficient “support” from McLaren amid his difficult run of form in the 2025 F1 season.

Piastri’s lead in the F1 drivers’ championship over Lando Norris has been reduced to 14 points with five races to go.

After the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Piastri was 34 points ahead of Norris. However, since then, Norris has beaten Piastri in four consecutive races.

Piastri endured a nightmare weekend in Azerbaijan, jumping the start and crashing out on the first lap.

The United States Grand Prix was his worst weekend of the year in terms of pace, with Piastri finishing a distant fifth in the grand prix.

This contrasted with Norris, who secured second behind Max Verstappen.

The McLaren title battle is becoming increasingly complicated due to Verstappen’s resurgence.

The Red Bull driver has won three of the last four races and is now 40 points behind Piastri.

McLaren should support Piastri – Steiner

McLaren will continue to give both drivers an equal opportunity to fight for the title, despite the growing threat posed by Verstappen.

Team principal Andrea Stella confirmed in Austin that McLaren will only prioritise one driver once the other is no longer in title contention.

This means they could risk losing the title to Verstappen, as they did in 2007, when Kimi Raikkonen snatched the crown from Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Steiner believes Piastri needs to feel the backing of the team at this crucial stage of the season.

Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri

“I think a little bit, a few bad races, and he can see, I don’t know if he feels that the team… because I feel the team should support him,” Steiner said on The Red Flags podcast.

“Now, there is pressure coming from someone else outside the team. And when you’re a team member, you want the support to win the championship, and he doesn’t get it, and maybe he’s starting to doubt if the team is behind him, or is there anything different?

“That obviously knocks on your confidence, and when you go into a race, you need to be completely free to do things you want to do, and when you’re not free, you make mistakes.

“I mean, it’s nothing else in normal life, you know? When you’re not sure if you can do this, you cannot do it normally?

“So I think that is what this drop in confidence, or this drop in performance, is because of a drop in confidence.”

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