Where Oscar Piastri lost the 2025 F1 world championship

Oscar Piastri finished second in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but missed out on his maiden F1 world championship.

The Australian lost out on the F1 drivers’ title by 13 points to McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just two points at the end of an intense 24-round season.

Piastri enjoyed his strongest season in F1 to date, bagging seven victories and six pole positions as he led the standings for 15 rounds and looked to be the favourite for the championship at one stage.

Ultimately it wasn’t to be for the 24-year-old from Melbourne, who will look back on some pivotal moments during the year that saw the world title slip from his grasp…

Slipping up at home

The first blemish on Piastri’s season came at the opening round and his home race in Australia.

Both McLaren drivers spun at the penultimate corner when a late rain shower hit, but it was Piastri who came off worse as he ended up stuck on the grass and dropped down to 13th.

Piastri impressively fought back to claim ninth, pulling off a stunning around-the-outside pass on Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in the process, but this was an early missed opportunity that gave Norris an immediate upper hand in the title race.

A pair of harsh penalties

Two hard penalties also cost Piastri dear in 2025.

The first came at Silverstone, where, having controlled the opening stages despite heavy rain and several incidents, Piastri picked up a 10-second penalty for driving erratically during a Safety Car restart. 

The penalty ultimately cost Piastri victory and Norris took full advantage by claiming his first win at the British Grand Prix.

Piastri was also hard done by in Brazil, where he was hit with a 10-second time penalty for triggering a collision which eliminated Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as the stewards rigidly followed their guidelines.

Most drivers, including Leclerc, felt the penalty was harsh. It cost Piastri second place behind Norris as he ultimately came home fifth and lost further ground to his teammate.

This was the second setback Piastri suffered in Sao Paulo, having crashed out of the sprint race a day earlier. 

Two deserved wins lost

Piastri was unfortunate to miss out on a victory he thoroughly deserved in Hungary as McLaren’s decision to split strategies inadvertently paved the way for an unlikely win for Norris.

In a straight fight, Piastri would have won. But Norris was put on a one-stop strategy after making a bad start and that ultimately proved to be a race-winning move as track position proved king.

Piastri was forced to pass Norris on track around a circuit known for being notoriously hard to overtake at. He had to settle with second place and squandered another seven points to Norris in the process.

McLaren’s strategy blunder in Qatar also saw Piastri lose a second victory through no fault of his own.

Monza swap controversy 

It was at the Italian Grand Prix where Piastri was controversially asked to hand second place back to Norris after a slow pit stop had dropped the Briton behind his teammate.

Norris had held second for most of the race and only fell behind Piastri after unconventionally allowing the Australian to pit first to help secure a 2-3 finish for the team and after being assured he would not be undercut. What McLaren did not foresee coming was an issue in Norris’s pit stop.

Piastri questioned the call but obliged to play the team game as he saw another three points go begging, while McLaren set an awkward precedent that prompted wild conspiracy theories.

Baku nightmare and form nosedive

Piastri went on to endure a disaster in Baku two weeks later as he crashed out of both qualifying and the race with two uncharacteristic mistakes.

Piastri called the Azerbaijan Grand Prix “the worst weekend I’ve ever had in racing” as he suffered his one and only retirement of 2025. It would start a streak of four races in which Piastri failed to finish on the podium.

During this run of tough events, Piastri went off the boil as he struggled for pace and looked drained of confidence. It would prove to be the final nail in the coffin for his championship hopes as Norris, in complete contrast, peaked at exactly the right moment.