The Formula 1 season of 2025 was supposed to be Oscar Piastri’s triumphant coronation. For six exhilarating months, the young Australian star led the Drivers’ Championship, his smooth, untouchable driving style solidifying his position as the sport’s most exciting rising talent. Yet, in the unforgiving final stretch of the season, a storm has quietly gathered, and the evidence now points to a startling conclusion: Piastri’s biggest rival is no longer his teammate, Lando Norris, or the hunting Max Verstappen. It is the insidious pressure mounting inside his own head.

The crack in Piastri’s armour became devastatingly visible at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix. While his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, delivered a dominant, statement-making victory, Piastri, after qualifying seventh, fought hard but could only muster a fifth-place finish. It was a decent result, but in the context of a championship battle, it was the exact moment “everything shifted.” The healthy lead Piastri had built was wiped clean, and he now trails Norris by a single, agonizing point heading into the final four races.

The real story, however, is not the point difference; it’s the profound ‘why’. Why, in a McLaren MCL39 that Team Principal Andrea Stella confirmed has proven it is a car “that can win races and in some conditions can dominate races,” is Piastri suddenly struggling to find the pace that defined his season?

The Tightness: A World Champion’s Diagnosis

The answer, according to one of the sport’s most astute and outspoken figures, 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, lies not in the engine, not in the setup, but in the driver’s most critical resource: his mindset and comfort level.

Villeneuve did not mince words, delivering a psychological diagnosis that has sent shockwaves through the paddock. He observed a fundamental shift in Piastri’s on-track demeanor, stating emphatically that Piastri “doesn’t seem to be comfortable in his car.” The visible signs, the former champion noted, were a driver who appears to be “driving very tight, not relaxed, and you see he is very notchy with his wheel.”

This isn’t just about a bad day or a tricky circuit; it’s about the erosion of the natural, fluid connection between driver and machine. Villeneuve puts it plainly: if a driver is “a little bit stressed and drives tight, not comfortable, not smooth and soft, that will take away a little bit as well and he will never find the balance in the car.”

In the hyper-competitive world of Formula 1, smoothness is speed, and comfort is measured in milliseconds. The moment a driver loses that seamless, almost subconscious confidence, they begin to overthink, over-correct, and, crucially, lose pace. This tightness, Villeneuve argues, is Piastri’s “big issue.” He urgently “needs to get back into a comfortable, calm zone.”

Piastri’s Own Troubling Admission

The troubling nature of this diagnosis is underscored by Piastri’s own post-race comments in Mexico. The driver himself admitted the feeling of being chronically off the pace, stating, “I feel like I’ve done some decent laps through the weekend but everything seems to be about four or 5 tenths off.” He concluded his reflection with a feeling of being “just a bit frustrated with how the session has gone.”

In Formula 1, four or five-tenths is an eternity—the difference between pole position and outside the top five. This consistent deficit, especially when contrasted with the performance of his teammate Norris, who felt “comfortable with continuity, clarity and confidence in the car,” is “massive” and damning evidence that the pace is slipping, not due to technical failure, but human fragility.

The descent has been creeping since the mid-season. Villeneuve pointed out that this change of pace started back in Baku, carried through Singapore and Austin. What began as the “smooth ascension of a future world champion now looks like the sneaky erosion of something fragile.” Pressure is no longer a simple challenge; it has curdled into fatigue and a mindset hurdle at the absolute worst possible moment.

Piastri has even acknowledged the required change in driving style, admitting that the “last couple of weekends has required a very different way of driving compared to most of the season to date.” Awareness is the first step, but awareness and adaptation, especially when the title is on the line, are two very different and slow-moving processes.

The Team’s Long-Game ‘Investment’

The drama unfolding on the track is only matched by the careful messaging coming from the McLaren garage. Team Principal Andrea Stella, rather than expressing panic, chose to frame Piastri’s current struggle as an “investment.”

After Norris’s dominating win, Stella was quick to praise his early leader, stating, “I think Oscar has got a lot of learning from this weekend and that sort of an investment that you make to make sure that you are competitive in every condition in the final part of the season.”

The word investment is revealing. It tells the world that Stella sees value in Piastri’s current dip—a crucible that every great champion must face. The dip in pace, the unfamiliar driving style, the slip in the standings—it’s all part of a “long game,” a high-stakes test of endurance and character.

However, the reality of Formula 1 is that the championship battle is unforgiving, and in this environment, you don’t get re-takes. The clock is ticking, and the cost of this “investment” could be the 2025 title.

The Double Threat: Norris and Verstappen

Piastri’s battle for comfort and rhythm is happening as two major threats circle.

First is his teammate, Lando Norris. Norris has been relentless, working “with his engineers, tweaking setups, refining every inch of his weekend execution.” That commitment has manifested in a driver who is confident, leading, and, crucially, “driving with joy.” Norris’s tone is one of peace and confidence, while Piastri’s tone after Mexico was “not panic but it’s not peace either,” highlighting a dangerous tension.

Second, and perhaps more terrifying for McLaren, is the “looming spectre” of Max Verstappen. While the McLaren drivers have been locked in a ferocious intra-team battle, Verstappen has been quietly, efficiently, and dangerously clawing his way back. Even after finishing third in Mexico, he is now just 36 points behind the lead with only four races remaining. McLaren leadership “knew it” that “Max was never truly out of it,” and now they are facing the stark reality of the Red Bull threat closing in fast.

The final four races—Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi—are a brutal mix of unique conditions and demands. As Stella noted, there’s no reason to think one circuit will favor one driver over the other. The deciding factor will be purely down to “who shows up ready.”

The Champion’s Crucible

The narrative has flipped entirely. The season started with the question, Can Lando Norris finally beat Oscar Piastri? Now, the question is whether Piastri, the smooth operator and early title leader, can reclaim his edge and prove “he can outfight his teammate when it matters most.”

Villeneuve’s warning remains stark: a problem like this, early in the season, is manageable when a driver is “full of energy.” But now, at the end of a grueling season, they are “just grueling, tired, and it’s tough.” This isn’t just about car setup; it’s about endurance and staying sharp when the body and mind are demanding rest.

Piastri is no longer just battling his rivals; he is battling his rhythm, his comfort, and his mindset. He needs to stop overthinking and start attacking again, as the window of opportunity is “closing fast.”

Perhaps this profound struggle is the crucible every great champion must survive. The moment doubt and pressure threaten to “burn him out or forge him into a world champion.”

The evidence of the crack is clear, and the ball is now squarely in Piastri’s court. His move, and his response to this psychological challenge, will define not just the rest of his 2025 season, but the trajectory of his entire Formula 1 career.