Is Oscar Piastri's Formula One championship dream slipping away? The young Aussie's recent struggles have sparked a fiery debate, with former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner dropping a bombshell: Piastri might simply “not be good enough to be world champion.” This statement, as harsh as it sounds, comes at a critical time for the 24-year-old, who has been on a noticeable decline since September, failing to secure a podium finish since Monza.
But here's where it gets controversial: Steiner, once a vocal supporter of Piastri, now points the finger squarely at McLaren. He argues that the team’s internal dynamics are playing right into Max Verstappen’s hands, potentially setting the stage for another heartbreaking season like 2007, when McLaren’s drivers finished second and third to Kimi Raikkonen. “His best ally to win the championship is McLaren,” Steiner remarked on The Red Flags Podcast. “The ‘papaya rules’ are for Max… if they keep fighting, they keep taking each other’s points.”
Piastri’s performance in Mexico, where he started 7th and finished 5th, only added fuel to the fire. Steiner bluntly stated, “It was not good enough to be world champion.” He went on to suggest that Piastri’s struggles stem from a lack of consistent team support, which has caused him to lose confidence. “I think with all these papaya rules… when they let him pass, let him go, you go, I go… in the end, I think he lost a bit of confidence,” Steiner explained.
And this is the part most people miss: McLaren’s insistence on letting their drivers battle it out on the track, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize their overall chances, may be backfiring. Recent incidents between Piastri and his teammate Lando Norris have fueled conspiracy theories that the team is favoring the more experienced British driver. Steiner noted, “At the beginning of the season, Oscar had no pressure because he was unofficially the number two driver. Lando has more experience, he’s older, and he’s been with the team longer. But with all the papaya rules, I think Oscar lost a bit of confidence in races.”
As F1 heads to Brazil this weekend, the question lingers: Can Piastri turn things around, or is Steiner’s critique a harsh but fair assessment? Is McLaren inadvertently sabotaging their own chances by not fully backing Piastri? Or is the young driver simply not ready for the championship spotlight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments—this debate is far from over.
