Oscar Piastri has seen his Formula 1 championship lead vanish with his hopes of claiming a maiden driver’s championship now appearing all but shot.
Over the course of the past six races, the Aussie has gone from being 34 points clear on top to now being 24 points behind.
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His McLaren teammate Lando Norris has found another gear in the latter stages of the season whereas Piastri has struggled to produce results like he did early on.
The stark fall off from the Melburnian has led to vast conspiracy theories, but seven-time F1 race winner Juan Pablo Montoya says it all comes down to one thing.
Piastri simply doesn’t have the speed to match the Brit.
While it may seem like an easy issue to overcome, the team’s set-up changes have reportedly been significant over the past few weeks and have pushed Piastri to race well outside his comfort zone.
For Norris however, he has adapted to the changes that have been made and is showing his prowess at the front of the grid.
“I think McLaren have changed the car to make it stronger in qualifying and Norris can drive it, Oscar Piastri can’t,” Montoya said.
It’s the level of comfort behind the wheel that is allowing Norris to skip clear of his rivals and even his own teammate.
Despite being in the exact same machinery, Piastri can’t handle it the same way as the Brit and it’s costing him dearly.
Norris has won the past two races, but it was during the Brazilian Grand Prix when the speed difference between the duo became glaringly evident.
Following a safety car restart on lap six, Piastri jumped into second place behind Norris and had the margin to under a second after a brief virtual safety car.
Despite being within DRS range of his teammate, Piastri simply couldn’t get the job done with Norris eventually scampering away.
“Piastri has no speed,” Montoya said to PokerStrategy.
“When he ended up being second after the incident with Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc in Brazil, Norris was able to get away from him. Norris had seven or eight seconds on Piastri.
“What’s the excuse? In Mexico it was low grip, in Brazil it was bumpy, Las Vegas won’t be a strong track for McLaren because of the low downforce.
“They won’t have a huge advantage and other cars will make their life difficult. I expect the Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull to be strong in Las Vegas, so if Piastri has an average race he can lose 10 to 15 points.”
With McLaren not expected to perform as well as other cars around the Las Vegas circuit, Piastri can’t afford to fall any further behind his championship rival.
Montoya warns that Norris could get complacent with his lead, but with only three races remaining the championship could be all over before the final race of the season even takes place.
“Lando Norris could get complacent like Oscar Piastri was with his points gap, he needs to be careful,” Montoya said.
“Realistically, Norris could still finish behind Piastri every race now and still win the championship.
“You look at how far back Lando Norris has had to come from, he was 30 plus points away and now he has a 24 point advantage. If he keeps this up, he’ll win the championship before we reach Abu Dhabi.”
Despite the championship battle appearing to be almost over, Piastri showed improvement in the car in Brazil and isn’t giving up hope of bouncing back to steal the title away.
“Just try and get the most out of it that I can,” he said.
“Today, the penalty was one thing, but I don’t think the pace was at a level that I wanted it to be. The second half of the race was potentially not too bad but the first stint was a little bit tough.
“Just trying to get back on top of things with that and have the best weekends we can.”
The Formula 1 grid will hit the streets in Las Vegas with the race set to unfold on November 23, with Piastri hoping he can finally get the wood over Norris and return to the podium.
“I won’t rule Oscar Piastri out of the championship yet,” Montoya said.
“He can go to Las Vegas and win with a Lando Norris DNF, then Piastri will lead the championship by a point. It’s not over until the fat lady sings. There are lots more twists and turns to come.”
