With pressure from Max Verstappen in the championship fight, Oscar Piastri revealed that McLaren dropped Norris’ repercussions ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP. Following the big crash from the F1 US GP Sprint, when Piastri knocked both himself and Norris out of the race, these two drivers are now even. Wiping the slate clean, McLaren is set to try and regain their lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
Coming into the F1 Mexico City GP, Piastri’s gap is only at a 14-point advantage over his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris. Putting them closer than ever, the two drivers also face the threat of that Red Bull in third. The extreme altitude conditions will put these teams to the test, with drivers having to manage tyre temperature and degradation.
Taking accountability for the crash at COTA
As the grid was heading into the F1 US GP weekend, news of certain “repercussions” came to light in McLaren’s inner-team battle between Piastri and Norris. After the incident at Singapore, where the Briton made contact with the Australian at Turn 3, the Papaya rules deemed Norris at fault for an otherwise preventable incident.
The team elected to burden the Brit with these “repercussions”, thought to allow Piastri priority in car order in Qualifying. However, according to Piastri in the F1 Mexico City GP press conference, his incident with Nico Hulkenberg changed the rules:
“We’ve gone through it again. We go through every weekend regardless of what’s happened,” explained Piastri, taking the blame for the US GP fiasco. “I think there is a degree of responsibility from my side in the sprint. And we’re starting this weekend with a clean slate for both of us.”
Nevertheless, the 24-year-old went on to clarify what changed now, coming into the Mexico City weekend. It looks like McLaren decided to backtrack from those “repercussions”. Instead, both Piastri and Norris will be allowed to race with no hindrance:
“We’re just going out and racing and see who can come out on top. The consequences on Lando’s side have been removed. Yes, ultimately, it was [the cut-back that caused the collision with Norris]. There’s a lot of factors involved. But ultimately, yes, that’s what’s been decided.”
The threat from Verstappen
Proving McLaren’s constant worry over Red Bull’s probability of success, Piastri spoke of the newfound fear heading into the F1 Mexico City GP. With the Dutchman’s recent consistency, he became a real threat to Norris and Piastri in their battle for the world championship:
“Clearly, over the last few race weekends, Red Bull and Max have certainly found consistency. There was flashes of that kind of performance earlier in the season. But I think the last few weekends it’s been very consistent.”
Anticipating some trouble for the race weekend, the Australian will focus on putting out his best performance:
“I’m sure that they’re going to be a threat again this weekend. And we’ll try our best to get the most out of our car and see where we end up.”
Similarities to past championship battles
Oscar Piastri’s upbringing in the sport left very little to be desired. The 24-year-old secured his first career victory in 2019 in the Formula Renault Eurocup. He then went on to win both the FIA Formula 3 and the Formula 2 Championships back-to-back the following years (2020, 2021). Piastri is the only driver in history to win Formula Renault, Formula Three, and Formula Two championships in successive seasons.
When asked to compare the Formula 1 title battle to his previous challenges, the Australian emphasised feeling “stronger” and more confident:
“There are some similarities [to my F3 title]. 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. In some ways, scarily similar. I think the good thing I have is the evidence that I can pull it off and won both of those championships. Those are nice things to look back on, definitely.”
Opting for a more cautious approach, the McLaren driver admitted that he does not expect this Formula 1 title battle to be easy. With the experience he gathered through his motorsport campaigns, Piastri is heading into the F1 Mexico City GP weekend ready to apply those lessons:
“I also know that just because I’ve done it before doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to happen this time. It is nice to look back on how I’ve handled those situations in the past, the experience I have now from that, and how I can apply that to this year.”
