Oscar Piastri’s summary of the 2025 F1 season shows exactly why he doesn’t deserve the title

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Oscar Piastri’s title challenge has unravelled in recent months, and his verdict on how happy he is with how the season has turned out shows exactly why he doesn’t deserve to win the 2025 Formula title.

Excusing the off at his home Grand Prix in the opening round of the season, Oscar Piastri didn’t put a foot wrong in the first half of the current Formula 1 campaign.

He found his form in the ensuing races, claiming the lead of the championship after the conclusion of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in April.

However, recent months have been of stark contrast. He’s now looking at a 22-point deficit to Lando Norris, and his chances of securing a maiden world title have faded with every passing race weekend.

Piastri’s race weekend in Qatar has shown signs of a potential turnaround in fortunes for the McLaren star, but his recent comments in the media show exactly why he has needed a reversal in form in the first place.

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Oscar Piastri issues a ‘better than I expected’ verdict on his 2025 F1 season

In a recent interview with The Athletic, the Australian driver touched upon the difficulties he has experienced in recent weeks, as well as delivering a verdict on whether he is happy with how the season has turned out.

Piastri said, “All things considered, [the 2025 season has gone] better than I expected.

“Obviously, there’s been some tough moments recently, but I think on the whole, if you had said I’d have five poles, seven wins, all the podiums, fighting for the championship and leading it for a long time, I definitely would have taken that.

“Even with the difficult races in there that we’ve had recently, I still would have taken it by far.”

The verdict serves as somewhat of a surprising one. Yes, Piastri is only in his third season of racing in Formula 1, but he has had a genuine chance of sealing the title this season.

But title shots don’t come around that often in F1. With the number of variables that are needed to go in favour of a driver to challenge for one can change from year to year; there’s no guarantee that Piastri will ever find himself fighting for a title again in his career.

• READ MORE: ‘Struggling’ Oscar Piastri has done something in F1 title fight that proves he’s ‘human’ after all

Oscar Piastri’s verdict shows exactly why he doesn’t deserve to win the F1 title this year

Before losing his lead at the top of the F1 standings after the Mexico City Grand Prix, Piastri had held the advantage over his championship rivals for 15 of the 19 rounds that had previously been raced.

After his most recent Grand Prix victory in Zandvoort, Piastri held a 34-point advantage over Norris, while Verstappen faced a 104-point deficit to the Australian.

If Piastri can class such a fall from a perch that most F1 drivers can only dream of as being better than his initial expectations of the year, it raises a lot of questions about his ambitions in the sport.

His form at the start of the season was nothing short of brilliant, but the mistakes he has made in the latter stages of the season, where results arguably matter the most, revealed the vulnerabilities of his supposedly ice-cool persona.