After taking victory in the Dutch Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri was sitting pretty at the top of the Formula 1 championship. Lando Norris' retirement from second put the Briton 34 points behind his team-mate, with Max Verstappen now 104 points behind. A series of stellar victories in the early phases of the season had demonstrated Piastri's efficacy in a position of dominance, as he sought retribution from his ignominious slide off the circuit amid a downpour mid-way through the Melbourne season opener.
After a controlled display in China and third place in Japan, Piastri later bagged three victories in a row to bring himself into the lead of the championship over Norris; Bahrain offered a pole-fastest lap-win combo, and the Australian then forced Verstappen into passing him off-track in Jeddah and benefitted from the Dutchman's subsequent penalty. He then put a move on the pole-sitting Red Bull in the opening half of the Miami race to extend that points lead further.
Barcelona presented another illustration of Piastri's ability to suffocate a race at the front, and then he narrowly evaded damage from Norris' ill-placed onslaught in Montreal to further increase his championship advantage – making the most of his McLaren on the rare days it had struggled to perform. And, while Norris' form started to pick up, Piastri finished second to his team-mate in Austria, Silverstone (post-penalty for a safety car misdemeanour) and Hungary – but showed his teeth in a ruthless pass on Norris at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Norris' Zandvoort failure ensured Piastri's championship lead was reaching a critical mass, and the Australian had earned acclaim for his unflappable nature and killer instinct. But, as the European season came to a close, the wheels then started to fall off – at the point at which Piastri was asked to give up a position when Norris lost second in the pitlane at Monza. A resurgent Red Bull and Piastri's horror show in Baku – crashing in qualifying and then on lap one of the race – had precipitated a nosedive, and poor results in Austin and Mexico cost the title lead to Norris.
It was suggested that Piastri had needed to revise his natural driving style to find performance among the lower-grip circuits and, while he had a better handle of the car in Brazil and Las Vegas, circumstances conspired to widen the gap in the championship battle. Piastri demonstrated his return to form in Qatar, although a win was taken from his hands as McLaren's pit-stop farrago – electing not to stop under the safety car – cost him the lead. The damage was done, and Piastri was only ever an outside bet for the title in Abu Dhabi.
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