Debunking McLaren sabotage conspiracy as momentum swings to Norris

Baffled by his almost six-tenths deficit to Lando Norris in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix, where Oscar Piastri lamented “just no pace”, social media came to life with accusations of sabotage.

The subject took hold, with some fans claiming that “nobody is convincing me that McLaren hasn’t done something to slow down or sabotage Oscar Piastri’s car” while others pointed to the timing, with Piastri notably on the back foot since McLaren’s Constructors’ win in Singapore.

Piastri v Norris: New McLaren conspiracy

⦁ Oscar Piastri calls lack of pace ‘a bit of a mystery’
⦁ Fans on social media call foul
⦁ McLaren team boss gives explanation for Oscar Piastri’s woes

The five-time pole-sitter in the F1 2025 championship was only sixth to Norris’ P2 at the following race in Austin, calling the session a “struggle” before adding: “I don’t feel like I’ve made any major mistakes, so from a driving side of things, it’s just not clicked.”

He made up one position in the grand prix, but with Norris P2 at the line, Piastri’s lead in the Drivers’ standings was blunted to 14 points.

Moving onto the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Piastri trailed Norris in practice, and it was more of the same in qualifying. He made it into Q3 in seventh place in a segment topped by Norris, and that deficit on the track continued in the all-important pole-position shoot-out.

While Norris clocked a 1:15.586 to grab pole position ahead of the Ferrari teammates, Piastri was 0.588s slower in eighth place.

Former F1 driver Damon Hill chimed in on it, writing on X: “And Oscar… what the hell is going on there?”

Even Piastri doesn’t know.

Speaking to Sky F1 after quali, he said: “[The car] feels okay, just no pace, which is a bit of a mystery. It’s been more or less the same gap all weekend. We will have a look at where I was going wrong and… yeah, obviously a bit frustrating.”

The Australian racer wasn’t the only one mystified as pole-sitter Norris didn’t expect the pace that he showed.

“It was one of those laps where you don’t really know what happened. It felt decent, but then when I crossed the line and saw a 15.5, I was very pleasantly surprised.”

Cries of ‘sabotage!’ rang out on social media

Fans on social media called foul on Saturday, adamant McLaren was sabotaging Piastri’s car to hand the World title to Norris.

When do we start having the sabotage conversation?

In Singapore Oscar qualified ahead of Lando Norris, McLaren won the WCC in Singapore.

Oscar was 3 tenths slower in COTA (SQ+Q) & 6 tenths slower in Mexico.

I refuse to believe that’s a coincidence.#F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/G4Vp3RoLKl

— Box Box || OSCAR WDC 2025 🏆🇦🇺 (@BoxBoxAndStop) October 25, 2025

Another fan wrote: “You’ll never convince me that McLaren isn’t quietly sabotaging Oscar’s performance to favor their golden boy. Their actions over the last few weeks tell all”

Even the more level-headed were questioning what’s going on, writing: “I do not believe Mclaren would sabotage Oscar in any way but it is a bit sus how he’s fallen off soo hard.”

McLaren team boss offers explanation for Oscar Piastri’s woes

Rather than a conspiracy to help Norris win the title, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella puts Piastri’s deficit to Norris in Austin and again in Mexico down to track conditions.

Both venues saw high temperatures leading to the cars sliding around a lot. According to Stella, that suits Norris’ driving style better than Piastri’s.

Simple as that.

“It was good to prove that it was the fastest car,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets after qualifying. “But the fastest car is also a car that needs to be driven in a certain way, especially when you have conditions like here and to some extent in Austin with hot tarmac, sliding tyre.

“The way in which you generate lap time is a way that, I would say comes relatively naturally for Lando and less naturally for Oscar.

“You know, Lando is the driver going on low-grip end of the stint when the tyres are quite worn, used, the grip is low, is where we see Lando green sector, green sector, green sector.

“Oscar, is instead more of a driver for high grip, and that’s where he can exploit this incredible talent.”

Going on to remind everyone that Piastri is also still honing his craft as he nears the end of his third season in Formula 1, whereas Norris is in his seventh year, Stella insists there’s nothing to worry about, Piastri is just learning in this moment.

“At the same time, we don’t have to forget that while we talk about the leader in the Drivers’ championship, he’s not even finished the third season in Formula One, so experiencing situation like we have here, in Austin, is how you actually calibrate yourself as a driver.

“So Oscar, every session is learning a little bit as to what you need to do, what you need to feel, to say, I’m fast now in these specific conditions, which, conversely, are more natural conditions for Lando.

“So nothing to worry, I think it’s more a calibration exercise for Oscar. I’m sure this calibration will pay off already in the race and in any future event in which the regime in which the tyre and the car interact with the tarmac is similar to here in Mexico, like it was in Austin last week.”

Debunking the post-Singapore GP conspiracy

It should also be noted that Piastri’s troubles on track did not begin in Austin, the race after McLaren’s Constructors’ victory, he was already losing points to Norris at the Italian Grand Prix.

Second to his teammate’s P3 in a controversial race for McLaren, Piastri had been running behind Norris on the track, ie slower than him, before the pit wall’s team order to swap positions after Norris’ botched pit stop.

The Australian went on to record his worst race weekend of the season one race later in Azerbaijan, where he crashed in qualifying and had to lined up ninth on the grid. A jumped start triggered his MCL39’s anti-stall and Piastri fell to the back of the field only to crash on the opening lap as he tried to regain positions.

Only then did F1 move onto Singapore. While that race also led to speculation McLaren want Norris to win the title after their first lap collision, that Norris was given repercussions for it put an end to that. Piastri then hitting Norris in the Austin Sprint after an ill-judged cutback at Turn 1 put paid to those consequences for the Briton.

Piastri’s troubles clearly have nothing to do with McLaren winning the Constructors’ title, and according to the conspiracies now wanting Norris to win the title, they began weeks before that race.

Perhaps it’s more a case of pressure, not pace? But it’s definitely not sabotage.

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