Guenther Steiner delivers Oscar Piastri ‘not good enough’ blow

Guenther Steiner has dropped an Oscar Piastri bombshell after describing the Australian’s performance in Mexico as “not good enough” to win the world championship.

Steiner’s comments come following a tough run of races that have seen Piastri fall a point behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris with four races remaining in this year’s season.

Oscar Piastri branded ‘not good enough to be world champion’ after Mexican GP

Piastri and Norris have been locked in battle for the world championship throughout much of the F1 2025 campaign.

The Australian headed the competition from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix until Norris’ victory in Mexico last time out, prompting Steiner to make a bold observation.

“It wasn’t good enough to be world champion,” the former Haas boss said of Piastri’s Mexico City GP performance.

“He’s struggling now, and I don’t know what exactly is happening, but one of the things I could conclude out of it is that, you know Oscar being, you know, he doesn’t get support from the team to win the championship, you lose a little bit your mojo.”

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Steiner noted that Piastri came into the F1 2025 campaign without any pressure.

Norris had challenged Max Verstappen for the title last year, making him the unofficial team leader at McLaren.

Without that weight of expectation, he reasoned, Piastri was able to perform, chalking up four wins in five races from China to Miami, and five wins in eight starts to Spain.

But since F1 returned from its mid-season break, however, there’s been just a single victory in Zandvoort and a third place in Italy.

Piastri also chalked up his first retirement since his rookie campaign in Azerbaijan. Add in McLaren’s efforts at equality, and Steiner suggests it’s hurt the Aussie.

“I think with all these papaya rules, I don’t remember them all – when they let him pass, let him go, you go, I go… In the end, I think he lost a bit of confidence.

“Qualifying, you’re out there on your own, it’s just difficult. He didn’t have a good lap. You start in Mexico where he started, you haven’t got a chance.”

Piastri qualified eighth fastest in Mexico but lined up seventh thanks to a grid penalty for Carlos Sainz meant he started seventh.

From there, he raced forward to finish fifth, just 1.1s away from Oliver Bearman in fourth.

With Norris winning the race, it saw Piastri cede the championship lead to his teammate, the Brit a single point clear into the Sao Paulo Grand Prix this weekend.

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