Jacques Villeneuve says Oscar Piastri showed he’s no Ayrton Senna with ‘strange’ comments about Lando Norris

Follow us on Google Discover

Oscar Piastri narrowly missed out on victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend. He chased down Lando Norris on an alternative strategy, but ultimately ran out of laps.

Piastri started on the front row alongside surprise polesitter Charles Leclerc, with Norris a disappointing fourth. The Englishman lost further ground at the start, forcing him to resort to an unlikely one-stop to have any hope of victory.

After he pitted for a second time, Piastri predictably wiped out Norris’ advantage on fresher tyres. But he couldn’t get close enough on the pit straight, which offers the main overtaking opportunity at the tight and twisty Hungaroring.

At one point, Piastri attempted a lunge from a long way back, only to lock up and almost collide with his teammate. He was within seven-tenths of Norris at the chequered flag.

Jacques Villeneuve questions Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris mindsets

The result is that Norris cuts Piastri’s lead back to single figures heading into the summer break. The conclusion of the race was a tantalising trailer for the final 10 Grands Prix, with all other contenders now out of the picture.

Indeed, it was telling that Piastri said he ‘didn’t really care about Leclerc’, the erstwhile leader, during Sunday’s race. His priority was beating Norris, even if it meant missing out on victory.

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve says Norris has a similar mindset. And he’s questioned whether Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, who were involved in a legendary rivalry at McLaren in the late 1980s, would have made such comments.

Villeneuve expects the pair to become more aggressive once the constructors’ title is sealed. McLaren currently lead by just under 299 points – effectively a seven-race cushion.

“They always seem happy when their opponent does better and wins a race,” he said. “It’s a bit of a strange situation; I can’t imagine, for example, Senna and Prost doing the same thing.

“But I think that once they’re sure they’ve won the constructors’ championship, they’ll start to show their character more on the track. And then the competition between the two will really heat up, or at least… I hope so.”

How McLaren are ‘brainwashing’ Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris

Zak Brown says Piastri was measured when he got out of the car on Sunday afternoon. There was no sense of frustration, even though Norris benefitted from an alternative strategy.

This was the scene, 12 months earlier, where Norris initially refused to obey a team instruction to let Piastri through. While he eventually complied, it somewhat marred the Australian’s first F1 win.

One journalist says McLaren are ‘brainwashing’ Piastri and Norris by constantly referring to their principles. They collided in Canada, but the latter immediately took responsibility.

Piastri has been reminded on multiple occasions not to take too many risks when racing his teammate, even though he’s understandably desperate to beat him.