Now questions are mounting over whether he’s losing his grip on the championship.
Following his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Piastri held a commanding 34-point buffer over teammate Lando Norris and a massive 104-point gap to Max Verstappen.
Since then, the Australian has stood on the podium just once — third in Monza — and has been consistently outscored by both rivals across the last four rounds.
His latest result, fifth at the United States Grand Prix, came after a weekend where he admitted he “didn’t gel with the car” and struggled to get comfortable.
“It was just difficult to get into a rhythm at all,” Piastri said after the race.
The Melburnian also failed to score any points in the Sprint race, with both him and Norris taken out at Turn 1 on the opening lap, while Verstappen went on to win.
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Piastri now leads Norris by just 14 points, with Verstappen closing to within 40 after another dominant drive in Austin — his fifth win of the season and third in the last four races.
The Red Bull driver has amassed 119 of a possible 133 points since the summer break, a turnaround that has reignited talk of a late title charge.
“The chance is there, we just need to keep delivering this kind of weekend till the end,” Verstappen said of his championship prospects.
Norris, meanwhile, has quietly built momentum, taking second place in Texas after reclaiming the position from Charles Leclerc late in the race.
For McLaren, the situation is increasingly tense.
Piastri’s form has dipped just as Verstappen has hit his stride, with the Australian’s advantage over the Dutchman shrinking by 64 points since Zandvoort.
Norris, too, has closed the gap, though he hasn’t capitalised as much as he’d have hoped since his retirement in the Netherlands.
Despite the swing, Piastri and team principal Andrea Stella insist there’s no panic within McLaren, stressing it isn’t time to back one driver over the other while Verstappen looms large.
“We’re still so incredibly tight,” Piastri said.
“It’s far too close to start picking one or the other.”
Still, the numbers tell the story of a championship picture shifting rapidly.
Since the Netherlands, Piastri has scored just 37 points to Verstappen’s 101 and Norris’s 57.
Five rounds remain, with two sprint weekends still on the calendar — and 141 points left in play.
Momentum can swing quickly in F1, but after months in control, Piastri suddenly finds himself under serious pressure.
So we’re asking: Is Oscar Piastri throwing away the F1 championship?
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