Brutal Oscar Piastri has “no velocity” verdict from former F1 winner

Oscar Piastri had “no velocity” within the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in an alarming verdict forged by former F1 race-winner Juan Pablo Montoya.

The McLaren driver might solely end fifth after being handed a 10-second time penalty for colliding with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, whereas teammate and title rival Lando Norris made it consecutive victories to increase his championship benefit to 24 factors with three rounds remaining.

It marked the sixth weekend in a row that Norris has outscored Piastri throughout a shock droop in kind that has seen the Australian go from title favorite to seeing his championship hopes quickly fade.

And 7-time grand prix winner Montoya highlighted Piastri’s largest concern from the weekend in Brazil.

“Lando Norris might get complacent like Oscar Piastri was along with his factors hole, he must be cautious. Realistically, Norris might nonetheless end behind Piastri each race now and nonetheless win the championship,” Montoya advised PokerStrategy.

“The issue is, Piastri has no velocity. When he ended up being second after the incident with Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc in Brazil, Norris was in a position to get away from him.

“Norris had seven or eight seconds on Piastri. What is the excuse? In Mexico it was low grip, in Brazil it was bumpy, Las Vegas will not be a powerful observe for McLaren due to the low downforce.

“They will not have an enormous benefit and different vehicles will make their life troublesome. I anticipate the Ferrari, Mercedes and Pink Bull to be robust in Las Vegas, so if Piastri has a mean race he can lose 10 to fifteen factors.”

Is Max Verstappen out of the title race?

Whereas Montoya will not be ruling out Piastri staging a comeback, he does imagine the title is now out of attain of Pink Bull’s Max Verstappen.

The four-time world champion stays in mathematical competition however Montoya reckons his 49-point deficit is simply too nice to beat.

“I will not rule Oscar Piastri out of the championship but. He can go to Las Vegas and win with a Lando Norris DNF, then Piastri will lead the championship by some extent. It isn’t over till the fats woman sings. There are heaps extra twists and turns to come back,” he added.

“The one who is out of the race for the championship is Max Verstappen. The purpose hole is simply too massive and you are not going to get two DNFs for each of the McLarens in three races left.”