Oscar Piastri Las Vegas GP ‘demeanour’ proves Max Verstappen was right about McLaren treatment

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Oscar Piastri enters the Las Vegas Grand Prix knowing that he simply has to score a strong result to keep his title hopes alive.

The Aussie driver now trails Lando Norris by 24 points in the drivers’ championship, with just three races to go.

Losing ground at the Las Vegas Grand Prix almost isn’t an option for him. His teammate has all the momentum, and that must be turned around.

Having missed the podium at each of the last five races, it feels unlikely that Piastri will end that streak at the only Formula 1 track where McLaren have never achieved one.

Piastri’s ‘slump’ has been blamed on a ‘lack of experience’, but he’ll have expected more from himself, given how he started the campaign.

David Coulthard has spotted ‘subconscious bias’ at McLaren and believes that Lando Norris has a slight advantage over Piastri, potentially down to his experience.

READ MORE: F1 fans deliver overwhelming verdict when asked if Oscar Piastri will leave McLaren next year

Max Verstappen was right about McLaren treatment after seeing Oscar Piastri’s Las Vegas ‘demeanour’

Jenson Button was wrong about Piastri, and a little caught out by how Norris has dealt with the situation slightly better.

Damon Hill thinks Mark Webber must ‘guide’ Piastri through his rough spell, given that he went through a similar situation when he was younger.

Max Verstappen recently shared his surprise at McLaren’s lack of reaction over Piastri’s Brazilian Grand Prix penalty, which many have called unfair. It might have cost him a podium.

And after seeing Piastri’s ‘demeanour’ in Las Vegas, he might be right. The 24-year-old is ‘very calm’, but there’s an urgency and intensity to the situation that must be addressed.

“Lando does have a very relaxed demeanour,” said Rosanna Tennant on the Chequered Flag Podcast. “He was very chatty, I thought, today and was good at expressing how he’s been dealing with the year as a whole.

“Taking it race by race, but did you get a sense that was a guy under pressure, because I didn’t, really?

“Let’s talk about Oscar Piastri, then, because whilst it seems that everything is going Lando Norris’ way, it’s been the reverse, really, for Oscar Piastri,” she continued. “Yet, he has still got a very calm demeanour. There has been no throwing the toys out of the pram.

“Yes, a few heated radio exchanges, perhaps when he didn’t agree with certain things the team were doing, but it has never bubbled over so much so that in the media pen, you get the sense that he’s really annoyed with the situation.”

READ MORE: Alan Jones explains why he can’t see Oscar Piastri leaving McLaren despite rival paddock interest

How has Lando Norris turned the 2025 F1 title battle on its head?

Norris has a new qualifying edge over Piastri, which has been inspired by the removal of the delta from his steering wheel in qualifying.

Although he has fought back, with many writing him off in the middle of the season, it feels as though he hasn’t received the credit he deserves.

In front of boos in Sao Paulo, he reclaimed the championship lead and stomped his foot down by building a gap of 24 points.

Button has seen a ‘really impressive’ change in Norris, and it feels as though he has had a bit of a coming of age. It’s going to take something special to deny him the title now.