‘Something’s just gone wrong’ for Oscar Piastri as Brundle rubbishes McLaren theories

Martin Brundle has rubbished conspiracy theories that Oscar Piastri is somehow being treated unfairly at McLaren, but believes the Australian “needs a solid weekend” after a difficult run of form.

Piastri has seen a 34-point lead to Lando Norris overturned since the Dutch Grand Prix to now sit one point behind his McLaren teammate with four rounds to go.

Brundle: Oscar Piastri has gone from ‘horizontal’ to ‘struggling’

Brundle thinks the events of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in particular would have “scattered his brain” after being twice in the barriers over the weekend, and jumpstarting the race, as a first sign of pressure mounting on the young McLaren driver.

With Norris having clawed back his deficit from a retirement at Zandvoort in August, the McLaren duo head into the final stanza of the season almost neck and neck in the standings, with Max Verstappen getting ever closer in his Red Bull.

While Norris has spoken of the work going on behind the scenes on his side of the garage to make the car work to his liking, Piastri said after the Mexico City Grand Prix that he has been having to “drive very differently the last couple of weekends” to try and extract the most from his car.

Formerly a McLaren driver himself, Brundle explained that there is no way the team will favour one driver over the other, arguing the team’s main outcome is to have one of its drivers win the World Championship come Abu Dhabi.

He acknowledged Piastri’s recent struggles, however, but the shifts in a title fight are such that he brought up an old adage from a former employer: pressure goes one of two ways in high-level sport.

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“I’m sure McLaren are checking that chassis, the aerodynamics, the fit, the setup of that car, ad infinitum,” Brundle told Sky’s The F1 Show.

“I really honestly believe McLaren don’t mind which of their two drivers wins the World Championship, as long as it’s one of them, and it’s not Max Verstappen.

“It’s super important to them, and something’s happened in Oscar’s head. Have we seen any signs of this before in his previous junior racing or Formula 1 seasons? That’s worth looking into, but something’s just gone wrong, and he’s lost a bit of confidence, and the way these cars go into corners and how close the competition is at the moment, you only need to be a touch off, and he needs a very solid weekend.

“Has he got a lot going on in his ears? You know, we described him as ‘horizontal’ for pretty much all the season, because that’s how he looked, and he always has been so calm on the radio, not letting things get to him, and suddenly, that glass ceiling or that facade, whatever it is, seems to have gone from him and and he’s struggling.

“Rest assured, a team doesn’t spend $400 million a year and have one-and-a-half thousand employees and try to make one of their cars go a little bit more slowly.

“So, everybody associated with Oscar’s car will want him to turn that around soon, as in Brazil. His wins earlier on in the season… his season early doors was so astonishing. You don’t suddenly forget how to do that.

“A team boss of mine had an expression at high level motorsport, which I’m sure is the same in any high level sport: You’re either giving pressure or you’re taking pressure, there’s nothing in between.

“There’s no comfortable middle ground, and Lando suddenly started giving pressure, and so is Max, and Oscar started taking pressure, and so we’ve had that flip flop, and that, I think, is what we’re seeing at the moment.”

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