Oscar Piastri has firmly dismissed McLaren sabotage claims and conspiracy theories amid recent performance dip in his battle with Lando Norris for the 2025 Formula 1 world championship.
As the 2025 season nears its climax heading into the Brazilian Grand Prix, speculation and conspiracy theories have swirled around the Australian driver’s sudden slump.
Piastri, once boasting a commanding 34-point championship lead over his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, now trails his rival by a mere single point, prompting questions about the cause of his downturn.
However, Piastri has categorically denied any internal sabotage within McLaren, attributing his recent struggles to understandable and clear factors related to car performance and driving demands rather than any intentional obstruction.
The slump in Piastri’s form has been particularly stark since his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.
Ever since, his results have regressed sharply with four races gone without a podium finish amid a troubling performance gap compared to his teammate in qualifying and race pace.
His struggles became most apparent at the Mexican Grand Prix where he was significantly off pace in qualifying compared to Norris, sparking rumors and accusations that McLaren might be favoring Norris or deliberately hampering Piastri.
Even former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone vocalized such views publicly, suggesting that McLaren’s focus might be shifting towards Norris in the already tense 2025 F1 championship battle.
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Oscar Piastri addressed these claims head-on ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix with a composed and factual statement that repudiated any notion of sabotage.
When questioned about the conspiracy theories, he emphasized that extensive analysis of track data, car setup and driving style adjustments revealed clear reasons for the performance decline.
“It’s a good question,” Piastri joked to the media. “No, it’s not the case. I think the last couple of weekends have been a bit trickier, but we’ve got pretty clear answers on why that’s the case. There’s not too many mysteries on what’s happened.
“I think there are some questions on why some differences have cropped up in terms of how I need to drive and stuff like that, but everything is explainable, so there’s definitely not anything going on.”
In an interview with De Telegraaf, Jos Verstappen took a jibe on Piastri saying that speculation over whether he could handle the pressure of the title fight is not good for his reputation and he should not be a pushover.
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However, Piastri remains resolutely optimistic about his chances to reclaim the upper hand in the 2025 F1 championship battle despite losing the the title lead for the first time in nearly seven months.
“I think for me we’re always very open with each other in terms of what we think, if we think things are being fair when we think the right decisions are being made,” said Piastri.
“And from that side of things, we can stand up for ourselves, and I feel very comfortable doing that, and that’s very much encouraged by the team to make our point for ourselves individually.
“Obviously, it’s a difficult dynamic to manage when you’ve got two cars in the same team fighting for a championship that only one car can win. There’s naturally going to be difficulties with that, but I respect the team allowing us to try and fight for the driver’s championship.
“For myself I want to go out there and try and win the championship, knowing that I did it on my own merit and doing the things that I could do in my own control.
“Obviously if you pick one driver you’ve got a 50 per cent chance that you’re not going to be that driver so for me we are very much encouraged and welcomed to stand up for ourselves already so I don’t think that needs to change.”
