Doornbos, who raced for Red Bull in 2006, told Ziggo Sport he exchanged texts with Webber, Piastri’s long-time manager, as the fallout continued from a bruising weekend in Baku that saw the Australian crash in qualifying and retire from the race.
“I was texting with his manager. He said Oscar is only human,” Doornbos explained.
“Let’s not forget he doesn’t have a lot of experience compared to, say, Max Verstappen.”
Piastri endured an uncharacteristically messy round in Baku as his drivers’ title bid hit a snag.
He triggered one of six red flags in qualifying after slamming into the barriers during Q3, leaving him ninth on the grid.
His Sunday went no better, jumping the start and briefly going into anti-stall before a recovery drive ended with another heavy hit into the Turn 5 wall.
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Doornbos suggested the meltdown may have stemmed from tension at Monza a week earlier, where Piastri lost points to teammate and title rival Lando Norris after a slow pit stop.
“It’s striking this happened just after Monza, where there was a bit of friction,” he said.
“Piastri had to give away six points to Norris because he had a slow pitstop.
“That was a strange situation.”
The Dutchman added that with McLaren’s pit stop issues resurfacing in Baku, the pressure only grew as Max Verstappen slashed the championship gap with consecutive victories.
“There is danger,” Doornbos warned.
“McLaren makes so many mistakes, both with the drivers and during pitstops. That’s still astonishing.”
Doornbos also pointed to past examples of dramatic title swings as a reminder that the fight is far from finished.
“If Max wins everything, and Piastri always finishes third, Max wins the title. It’s possible,” he said.
“In 2013 Sebastian Vettel won the last nine races for Red Bull and became champion.
“Anything is possible, Abu Dhabi has seen crazier finales.”
Piastri leads teammate Lando Norris by 25 points and Verstappen by 69 with seven rounds of the championship remaining.
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