Oscar Piastri must request radical Daniel Ricciardo change at McLaren to revive his F1 title hopes

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Lando Norris outscored Oscar Piastri for the fifth round in a row at the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix to take the lead in the drivers’ championship from his McLaren teammate.

All is still to play for in the F1 drivers’ championship with four rounds left of the season. Only a single point now separates the papaya pals in P1 and P2, with Norris leading Piastri on 357 and 356 points. Red Bull racer Max Verstappen in third place is also just 36 points off Norris.

Piastri has lost the championship lead for the first time since April, as Norris and Verstappen outscored the 24-year-old in each of the past five rounds. Piastri had led Norris by 34 points and Verstappen by 104 after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, yet a run of woe then followed.

McLaren first saw the cracks emerge in Baku when Piastri crashed in qualifying and also out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when he failed to forget jumping the start of the race. He then struggled to get over Norris making contact in Singapore, and they collided again in America.

Oscar Piastri must follow Daniel Ricciardo’s example and ask McLaren to change his chassis

Piastri felt wronged by Norris barging through for P3 in the Singapore GP, for which McLaren imposed sporting repercussions on the Briton. Yet the punishment only lasted one round, as McLaren withdrew their mediation when Piastri crashed into Norris in the F1 Sprint at COTA.

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

Now, Piastri is playing catch-up after Norris dominated to win the Mexico City Grand Prix by 30.324s over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc while the Australian finished 42.065s adrift in P5. So, Piastri should take inspiration from Daniel Ricciardo and ask McLaren to change his chassis.

While McLaren replaced Ricciardo with Piastri, the Australian can now act as an example for his compatriot after turning a corner with his performances with Racing Bulls in the 2024 F1 season once the Faenza outfit agreed to give him a new chassis for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Ricciardo suggested Racing Bulls should change his chassis after only the first three rounds last year, as the Perth native looked for an explanation for starting the year without a point. With the new chassis, Ricciardo achieved P4 in the Miami Sprint for his first points of 2024.

While Racing Bulls did not believe Ricciardo’s chassis was the true root cause of his inability to match Yuki Tsunoda’s cornering speed, he wanted to explore every reason for his issues. Now, Ricciardo’s radical change should inspire Piastri to ask McLaren to change his chassis.

Gary Anderson suspects McLaren would have changed Oscar Piastri’s chassis if it were not for Lando Norris

Former Jordan technical director Gary Anderson feels McLaren would have “nothing to lose” by changing Piastri’s chassis, as well. But the Woking outfit may be reluctant to make such a change, as it might be misinterpreted as McLaren favouring Piastri’s F1 title bid over Norris’.

Anderson has told The Telegraph: “Would a chassis change work? That is not to say there is anything wrong with the chassis Piastri is using, but sometimes this can get into a driver’s head and a switch is the best thing.

READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge

“He obviously had two sizeable crashes in Baku. I am sure McLaren would be totally happy with what Piastri has. However, they would have nothing to lose by switching, at least in theory.

“The problem is that small things like this can appear to be favouritism within a team. If it were just Piastri vs Verstappen, I think McLaren would have changed the chassis by now.”

McLaren faced accusations about favouring Norris due to their initial reluctance to intervene in the Briton banging wheels with Piastri at the start of the Singapore GP. Their situation was not helped by McLaren ordering Piastri to yield P2 to Norris in the Italian Grand Prix, as well.

The Woking team then put themselves in the eye of another storm because of Norris’ short-lived sporting repercussions, too. But the papaya pals will now end the season on an equal playing field that McLaren may now be reluctant to jeopardise by changing Piastri’s chassis.