Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner says McLaren’s lack of support hurt Oscar Piastri

A strong supporter of Piastri’s championship prospects throughout the 2025 campaign, the former Haas team principal believed the Melbourne-born racer had suffered a loss of confidence, which the team had played a part in.

It comes as Steiner predicted Red Bull star Max Verstappen was still firmly in the race to win the world championship and McLaren could be his “best ally” to do so.

Piastri lost his lead in the title race after the Mexico Grand Prix when he was displaced by teammate Lando Norris after leading the championship for six months.

The Brit now holds a one-point lead in the drivers’ championship ahead of Piastri with four grand prix remaining in the season, while Verstappen sits 36 points behind Norris.

Piastri has not had a win since the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August and has finished with a DNF, fourth and two fifth places in the past four grand prix.

Quizzed on Piastri’s struggles after his performance in Mexico, Steiner, who had advocated for McLaren to support one driver and back the Australian in his title quest when he led the standings, said the team could have done more to support him.

“I mean it wasn’t good enough to be world champion, no?,” Steiner told the Red Flags Podcast about Piastri’s form.

“He’s struggling now and I don’t know what exactly is happening but one of the things I could conclude out of it is that Oscar being …. he doesn’t get support from the team to win the championship, you lose a little bit (of) your mojo. You have doubts and you don’t perform.

“At the beginning of the season he had no pressure because he was number two in the team – unofficially, obviously not officially – but again Lando is there a lot longer, he’s a lot older, he’s got a lot more experience.

“Oscar comes up, wins races, puts himself in the position, I mean everything goes right.

“Then I think with all these papaya rules I don’t remember them all when they, you know, ‘let him pass’, ‘let him go’, ‘you go, I go’, I mean, ‘let Max go’, all that stuff.

“In the end, I think he lost a little bit of confidence and therefore qualifying, you’re out there on your own. It’s just difficult. Didn’t have a good lap. You start in Mexico where he started, you haven’t got a chance, you know?”

As the title fight resumes in Brazil this week, Steiner was not ruling out Verstappen from the championship picture.

The four-time world champion has had six-straight podium finishes, including three wins, and Steiner said it was McLaren’s “papaya rules” which could ultimately play into the hands of the four-time world champion.

“I was completely ‘no’ a few races ago, I’m (now) saying ‘yes’,” Steiner said.

“And his best ally to win this championship is McLaren.

“The papaya rules are for Max.”

Steiner added Verstappen was taking the “smart” approach to his late title comeback.

“Max, it is very rarely that he puts his foot wrong,” Steiner said.

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“If he doesn’t win, or second, he is third … Max normally brings it home pretty solid.

“Max’s mind is now like, he knows what he needs to do, he needs to be solid. He didn’t do anything stupid at the end of the race in Mexico.

“He knows he needs to make points solidly, that’s the only way he can win and he is very smart in how (he is) doing it.”