Oscar Piastri says lack of pace in Mexico 'a mystery'

Piastri searching for answers after poor qualifying

Fine margins have separated Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris throughout the 2025 season. This is especially true on Saturdays, where less than two tenths usually makes the difference between the papaya duo.

In recent weeks, however, this has not been the case.

Piastri was a little over three tenths behind Norris in Qualifying at COTA, a notable gap in this season’s context. More worryingly, however, the Australian was nowhere near his teammate’s pace on Sunday.

Norris was 29 seconds ahead of his teammate at the chequered flag, a massive difference at such a crucial time in the season. Qualifying in Mexico continued this alarming trend, which is seeing the British driver rekindle his Championship hopes.

From Piastri’s perspective, a significant 34-point lead after Zandvoort is at risk of being eliminated after today’s race. In any context, losing points after creating a healthy buffer in the Championship standings is a nightmare scenario in Formula 1.

However, arguably the most pressing issue is that Piastri is failing to match the performance of his teammate.

Speaking after securing P7 on the grid, the 9-time race winner admitted he is without answers for the deficit to Norris:

“I mean it all feels OK, just no pace – which is a bit of a mystery. It’s just been more or less the same gap [to Norris] all weekend.

“So we’ll have a look at where it was going wrong then, but yeah, obviously a bit frustrating.”

Asked for details on the MCL39’s characteristics, Piastri insisted the car feels similar to the earlier parts of the year:

“Not a huge amount to be honest [different to previous rounds].

“It’s just that this weekend – and last weekend really – it just felt like the pace just hasn’t come. Not 100% sure why yet, so we’ll do some digging.

“I’ll try my best [into Turn 1], that’s going to be an opportunity to make some progress forwards – we’ll see what we can do.”

Title fight could turn on its head

Max Verstappen, the only person outside of McLaren who can challenge for this year’s crown, starts the Mexican GP from 5th.

Despite bringing a series of upgrades, the RB21 was fundamentally lacking in pace. Verstappen also warned he is not optimistic about making up positions on Sunday, owing to problems encountered in race simulations.

Assuming Red Bull lack the pace to challenge McLaren, the action in Mexico City becomes even more intriguing. Tomorrow represents a chance for Norris to re-take the Championship lead and make a statement in his quest for the title.

Of course, the British driver will count on a clean start to prevent the Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Hamilton from giving him headaches and denying him victory.

Further back, both Piastri and Verstappen will be hopeful for some chaos to create opportunities after difficult qualifying sessions.  With that said, it is doubtful whether either driver has the pace to fight for victory on merit.