Oscar Piastri aura rocked as Villeneuve issues Verstappen warning

Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has argued that championship leader Oscar Piastri’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix crash has “burst” his bubble — but in a way that can be reminiscent of other champions like Max Verstappen.

According to Villeneuve, every strong driver can have a flop of a weekend like Piastri’s. The real measure of one’s driving skill will come during the recovery period.

Oscar Piastri’s bad Baku puts Verstappen in the conversation

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was perhaps McLaren Racing’s most dismal event in the past two years. While championship leader Oscar Piastri ended both qualifying and the first lap of the race in the wall, Lando Norris was unable to capitalize on his rival’s misfortune to begin trimming down the points gap to the top of the drivers’ title standings.

Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen trimmed his points gap to Piastri from 104 to 69 points by winning the past two grands prix in what appears to be a far more stable RB21.

Now, the team in papaya will have to be keeping a close watch on Verstappen, who former champion Jacques Villeneuve believes is ready to pick up the pieces left behind by McLaren.

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“Azerbaijan has actually kept or put Verstappen in the hunt and Verstappen doesn’t crack under pressure and he will put an extreme amount of pressure on the two McLaren drivers and the team,” the pundit told a betting platform.

“It was a very bad show both from Piastri and from Norris, even more so from Piastri.

“You could tell that Piastri was on the edge all weekend for some reason. His driving was erratic from Friday onwards, the mistake in qualifying the mistake on the grid followed by a mistake right away on the first lap he wasn’t in it.

“It was really odd because he’s got quite a big lead. But we have often said being the hunted, being the prey is a very difficult pressure to carry. And it’s really affected him, this weekend anyway, which is crazy. Now compared to Norris, he didn’t lose many points.

“You just need another weekend like this, and the pressure is on even more. We’ve always perceived Piastri as being this cold, immovable block. But that’s not what we saw this weekend.”

That being said, Villeneuve has admitted that it isn’t uncommon for any driver to have a major disaster of a weekend.

“Piastri’s crash showed that his bubble there was a bit burst,” he explained.

“Is it a one-off? Everyone can have a moment of down like this. It doesn’t matter how strong you are.

“Even Max has had some weekends where we’re like, OK, maybe that one was a little over the top!”

However, in the case of Baku, it wasn’t just Piastri making mistakes.

“The curious thing is it was the two drivers and the team,” the driver told a betting platform.

“The whole thing. Not just one aspect. There was no sparkle particularly from Norris all weekend.

“His mistakes were less costly because he didn’t hit the wall, but he should have qualified at least P2. Then he just went a little bit wide, messed up and then had a lacklustre race. It was incredible.”

What will truly define the scope of the championship is how Piastri is able to recover from this downturn in performance. As Villeneuve notes, even champions can fall into a rut. What defines those drivers as champions, though, is their ability to rally their strength despite the frustration, returning to the track level-headed and ready to fight.

Villeneuve points out that Piastri is normally immovable. But can he return to that state now that he’s been pushed?

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