Oscar Piastri praised for ‘absolutely beautiful’ Mexican GP moment that kept his title hopes alive

Follow us on Google Discover

Oscar Piastri just lost the lead of the Formula 1 championship for the first time in a year after a difficult Mexican Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver now faces an uphill battle to overturn some of the momentum that his rivals have built up over the last few weeks. For the first time in 12 months, Piastri has now gone four races without appearing on the Formula 1 podium.

Once considered the favourite to win the drivers’ championship, the Aussie now looks a little lost. He needs to rediscover his form immediately, or he’ll be heading into the 2026 F1 regulations knowing that he wasted a great opportunity to claim a maiden title.

Piastri could have been wiser in Mexico, before Mercedes swapped their cars right in front of him. There could have been an opportunity to gain another place. Lando Norris knows he can beat Piastri, but it requires him to be relaxed in his car – something he is finally achieving in the MCL39.

READ MORE: Damon Hill has one simple question for Oscar Piastri after nightmare Mexican Grand Prix qualifying

Oscar Piastri’s overtake on George Russell was ‘absolutely beautiful’ at the Mexican Grand Prix

Piastri is feeling the pressure at McLaren, and facing a first title battle in his third season is no easy task. It has been four years since he was last involved in a similar situation during his Formula 2 days.

After Max Verstappen’s sudden comeback in recent weeks, Jacques Villeneuve has seen Piastri crack under pressure. The dynamic of a three-way title fight might be tantalising for fans, but for the drivers, it’s a lot to deal with.

Speaking on F1 TV after the Mexican Grand Prix, Piastri’s late overtake on George Russell was praised by James Hinchcliffe, who thinks that it was an ‘absolutely beautiful’ move.

“I thought it was a really heads-up drive from him, and great damage limitation,” he said. “He was a little bit conservative at the start, but you have to be when you’re leading the championship still by 14 points, with five [races] to go, I guess at the time.

“You can’t just be completely erratic, you can’t do bonsai moves. But then once the race settled in, he drove very smart, he picked off some positions. That move on George Russell late in the race was absolutely beautiful.

“That was just on the edge of the bonsai zip code; it was right there, but he executed it perfectly. He got as many points as I think, realistically, he was going to get out of the day.”

READ MORE: Andrea Stella admitted something about Oscar Piastri ‘for the first time’ at the Mexican Grand Prix

The astonishing statistic behind Oscar Piastri’s McLaren downfall in 2025

For 15 straight races between Shanghai and Monza, Piastri appeared on the podium at every single race. That’s a testament to both his performance and McLaren’s reliability.

The first sign of a blip came in Azerbaijan, when he had a messy weekend, crashing twice and scoring no points.

Since then, he hasn’t been able to earn another trophy and is fighting an uphill battle if he wants to stand a chance heading into the finale in Abu Dhabi.

Currently, it would be hard to bet against his teammate, but there are other variables at play, too. Verstappen won’t use mind games, but he usually does his talking on track, which will be hard to combat as ever.