Mexican Grand Prix: Piastri draws on past experiences to fend off Verstappen in F1 title race
In the past, Oscar Piastri struggled in the final races of a season while trying to secure a racing championship. The Australian driver hopes that the past can help him cope with his current circumstances in F1 starting this weekend in the Mexican Grand Prix.
Piastri won seven of the first 15 Gran Prix races this season to build a comfortable 104-point lead over reigning champion Max Verstappen, who has been in great form since and has taken advantage of McLaren’s troubles to cut that lead to 40 in just four races.
“I think he’s been very consistent in the last few weekends. And, and being strong as well, there’s no denying that,” Piastri said Thursday. “But there’s no benefit worrying about that, the thing that’s going to help me win this championship is trying to get the most out of myself.”
Piastri found himself in similar situations before in his career. In 2019 in the Renault Eurocup, he had a 40-point lead over Victor Martin, who cut it to 5 1/2 points, but Piastri secured the championship in the last race of the season.
Something similar happened to Piastri in the 2020 season of Formula 3, where he lost a 25-point lead and then trailed Logan Sargeant by seven points, but finished strong in the last races to win the crown.
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“There are some similarities, yes. I think ultimately in this championship, I feel stronger than I did in that year, and some things are a bit different. I think it’s also similar to the Formula Renault championship I had,” Piastri said.
“I think it is a good thing I have evidence that I can pull it off and won both of those championships. Those are nice things to look back on. But I also know that just because I’ve done it before doesn’t mean it’s automatic to happen this time around.”
Red Bull was fined 50.000 euros (around $58,000) by FIA after the stewards found out that a member of the team tried to remove Lando Norris’ grid tape before Max Verstappen’s United States Grand Prix win last weekend.
Under the current rules, tampering with tape markers is not illegal, but some Red Bull critics pointed out that it could be considered to be poor sportsmanship.
“I guess it took a bit longer for whatever reason and the gate closed,” Verstappen. said.” If he was distracted or not, the right way was to stay out of it, I think is quite clear. How do you explain it? Also the stewards. So I think that is quite understandable that you get fined for that.”
Piastri was politically correct when asked about the incident.
“I don’t have that much to add, but they’re within their rights to do it. But obviously, in Austin, they were on the grid too late doing it,” the Australian driver said. “I guess gamesmanship. But everyone will have their own opinion on whether it’s necessary or not”.
Norris though had some sharp comments about the tape fiasco.
“I didn’t use the tape, so it was extra amusing because I didn’t need it,” said Norris with a smile. “We just put it there in case.
“It made it extra funny because they got a penalty for it and I didn’t even need it.”
Published on Oct 24, 2025