Jacques Villeneuve shares the change he’s seen in Oscar Piastri amid Max Verstappen F1 title threat

Follow us on Google Discover

Oscar Piastri has led the 2025 F1 drivers’ standings since April in what seemed to be a straight fight at McLaren with Lando Norris, but Max Verstappen is back in the battle.

A McLaren star has led the F1 drivers’ standings after each round of the season so far. Norris kicked Verstappen off the top spot for the first time in 1,029 days when he won the first race of 2025 in Australia. But Piastri has continued to lead the way since race five in Saudi Arabia.

But while Piastri led Norris by 34 points and Verstappen by 104 as recently as round 15 of 24 at the Dutch Grand Prix, those leads now stand at just 14 and 40 points ahead of the Mexico City GP. Norris and Verstappen have both outscored Piastri over each of the last four rounds.

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko felt Verstappen’s 2025 title bid was over after Piastri won the Dutch GP. Even Verstappen stated it was “clear” he would not win another race in 2025 after the Hungarian GP, yet he won three of the following five and has not finished worse than P2.

Jacques Villeneuve has seen Oscar Piastri crack under the pressure of Max Verstappen

So, Jacques Villeneuve thinks Piastri is struggling to cope with pressure from Verstappen in the 2025 F1 drivers’ title fight. The 1997 champion has seen a raft of mistakes from Piastri as he is having to fight more than just his McLaren teammate Norris to win his first title in F1.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Those errors began in Baku when Piastri crashed in the Azerbaijan GP, after he even crashed in qualifying and also jumped the start of the race. Piastri fumed when Norris made contact in the Singapore GP, too, and he only secured P5 in the United States GP after qualifying P6.

Villeneuve told Sky Sports F1 (25/10, 18:23): “He doesn’t seem to be comfortable in his car. He seems to be driving very tight, not relaxed, and you see he is very notchy with his wheel.

“That started in Baku for some weird reason. Normally, that makes you go a tenth or two [of a second per lap] slower [and] start making mistakes.

“You don’t feel the car as well. You don’t set it up properly. And instead of qualifying second, third or first, you qualify fifth, sixth [or] seventh, and you get in all sorts of troubles.”

“The big difference now is the pressure he’s carrying,” Villeneuve added. “It’s not only his teammate with the Papaya Rules. Maybe fighting your teammate, that’s not so complicated when you’re ahead. But there’s Max coming back.

“He’s coming back, not like a little river but a full-on big, big river of momentum, a snowball. And that puts pressure [on Piastri] that’s hard to cope with. And we can see it.”

Oscar Piastri’s error-strewn run of results has let Max Verstappen back into the title fight

Piastri’s error-strewn showing at the Azerbaijan GP was particularly befuddling, as he flew to Baku with his largest lead in the drivers’ standings to date in the 2025 F1 season at 34 points over Norris. But the Australian failed to forget jumping the start and crashed out of the race.

Norris banging wheels with Piastri at the start of the Singapore GP as they fought over third place also played on the 24-year-old’s mind in the race at Marina Bay. He had another round to forget at COTA, too, as Norris and Verstappen cut their deficits down to 14 and 40 points.

Piastri crashed into Norris in the F1 Sprint at COTA, and the Melbourne native only securing P5 in the United States GP as Verstappen won brought the Red Bull star firmly back into the fight. So, Villeneuve now feels Piastri is cracking under the pressure of their three-way duel.