Source : ABC NEWS
Oscar Piastri’s “disappointing” end to the Dutch Grand Prix has left the Australian and his McLaren team searching for answers, while his teammate has roared back into the Formula 1 title picture.
Last weekend in Zandvoort was shaping to be a good weekend for Piastri.
The Australian was matching the pace at the front through qualifying, and after a terrific second start in the grand prix following Max Verstappen’s heavy crash, Piastri was on course for a first podium finish since Miami in May.
Piastri had performed a breathtaking overtake on Mercedes driver George Russell to move into third and was not far off the pace set by leaders Kimi Antonelli and teammate Lando Norris, despite being on a harder compound tyre.
But a slow first pit stop knocked Piastri back behind Russell and out of third place, and it only got worse from there.
Piastri, who won the Dutch Grand Prix in 2025, fell right off the pace and finished a distant sixth as Norris surged to victory.
Piastri was running third until a slow pit stop knocked him out of the podium position at Zandvoort. (Reuters: Benoit Tessier)
The sudden pace drop-off has left Piastri with plenty of questions that he and the team will want answers to.
“The first stint felt reasonable, but from the second stint onwards, the pace was simply not there, and it became a real struggle,” he said.
“We will review the entire weekend and analyse to understand why we experienced such a significant performance drop-off.
“A slow pit stop didn’t help, but the fundamental issue was the lack of pace, which is something we’ll work on ahead of Monza.
“That’s the priority now, to dig into the data with the team to find the root cause and ensure we can move forward in a more positive direction for the upcoming races.”
Piastri’s situation is a far cry from where he was at the conclusion of last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, when he claimed his seventh grand prix win of the season and was the championship leader.
But while Piastri is seeking answers to get back to the front of the grid, Norris is threatening to stay there.
‘The fight’s still on’: Norris re-enters the F1 title picture
McLaren entered the 2026 season having won the previous two constructors’ championships, and with Lando Norris as reigning drivers’ champion.
Reigning Formula 1 drivers’ champion Lando Norris has won the past two grands prix. (Reuters: Benoit Tessier)
But with a new era of regulations, McLaren’s 2026 season started poorly.
Piastri crashed on his way to the grid in Melbourne and he and Norris did not start in Shanghai due to car issues.
Norris then had back-to-back retirements in Montreal and Monaco, meaning he failed to finish three of the opening six grands prix.
But the reigning world champion has returned to winning ways, triumphing in Hungary before the mid-year break and then again last weekend in the Netherlands.
With back-to-back wins and growing confidence in his season, Norris has re-emerged as a drivers’ championship contender.
With 10 or 11 rounds remaining this season, depending on conflict in the Middle East, Norris is sitting fourth in the standings, 83 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli.
It is a huge gap, but recent history shows it is not an impossible feat.
At the conclusion of last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was 104 points behind then-leader Piastri with nine rounds remaining.
Verstappen surged towards the end of the season while Piastri slumped. Verstappen fell two points shy of Norris in the standings, but finished a stunning 11 points ahead of Piastri.
Having seen what is possible, Norris has made this year’s title fight a four-way race with Antonelli, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Norris’s message to his team over the radio after taking the chequered flag on Sunday certainly sounded like the Briton believed his championship hopes are far from over.
“Let’s keep pushing. Thank you for the hard work. Let’s keep bringing upgrades, let’s keep bringing performance, please,” he said.
“The fight’s still on.”
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Out of the car, Norris was quick to point out that there is a long season still ahead of the drivers and that he was not getting ahead of himself with an 83-point deficit.
“One race at a time. A lot of people say it now, but it is the truth of it. There’s no point in thinking that far ahead,” he said after winning on Sunday.
“There are plenty of things we can do better, and we need to do better if we want to fight for a championship.
“We have to keep working hard. There’s still plenty of races, plenty of opportunity for everyone.”
Norris’s deficit to Antonelli was 101 points prior to the weekend in Hungary, but the McLaren champion has reduced that by 18 with two tremendous weekends.
However, the 83-point gap is significant and Antonelli has extended his overall championship lead.
Entering the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, the young Italian’s lead over Hamilton was 50 points, and 59 over Russell.
After the weekend, his lead is 59 points over both Hamilton and Russell.
F1 heads to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks, one of the fastest tracks on the calendar and vastly different to the tight and twisting circuits in Hungary and the Netherlands where Norris has won this year.
