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F1 icon: Piastri "not good enough to be world champion"
SEN • November 4th, 2025 5:35 pm
Not much has gone Oscar Piastri’s way since Formula One returned from the summer break and they team has nobody to blame but themselves, according to former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.
A staunch defender of the Aussie this season, Steiner appears to have changed his tune, declaring the 24 year-old is simply “not good enough to be world champion”.
As brutal as it sounds, Piastri has been on a downward slump since September having not made the podium since Monza.
He has also relinquished his lead in the title race to teammate Lando Norris who edged him by a point after winning the Mexican Grand Prix last month.
With Max Verstappen now firmly back in contention to claim a fifth consecutive drivers title, Steiner says McLaren have no one to blame but themselves if they find themselves in the same situation as 2007 when their two drivers endured hellish endings to the season and finished 2nd and 3rd to Kimi Raikkonen.
“His best ally to win the championship is McLaren,” Steiner said of Verstappen on The Red Flags Podcast.
“The ‘papaya rules’ are for Max… if they keep fighting, they keep taking each other’s points.”
Asked about Piastri’s performance in Mexico, where he started 7th on the grid to finish 5th, he added: “It was not good enough to be world champion.
“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… he doesn’t get support from the team to win the championship, you lose a little bit of your mojo.
“I think with all these papaya rules… when they let him pass, let him go, you go, I go… in the end, I think he lost a bit of confidence.”
McLaren have remained adamant their drivers can battle things out on the track so long as it does not jeopardise their overall chances.
Recently two incidents have occurred between Piastri and Norris leading to conspiracy theories McLaren are favouring the British driver.
“At the beginning of the season, Oscar had no pressure because he was number two in the team, unofficially obviously. Lando was there longer, he’s a lot older, he has a lot more experience,” Steiner continued.
“But then I think with all the papaya rules… I think he lost a bit of confidence in races.”
F1 returns this weekend with Brazil next on the Grand prix calendar.
