Damon Hill questions Oscar Piastri's sudden drop in form as compared to Lando Norris at McLaren

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has opined that Oscar Piastri's sudden drop in form is "perplexing." The championship leader has looked significantly slower than his teammate, Lando Norris, in the last few races, and qualified in seventh at the Mexico City GP on Saturday.

Norris grabbed the pole position, extracting over two-tenths more from his McLaren than Charles Leclerc, who finished second. However, the mood was completely different at the other end of the garage, with Piastri struggling to find pace compared to his teammate yet again.

The Aussie driver finished the session in P8, and will start Sunday's race from seventh, thanks to Carlos Sainz's five-place grid penalty. Piastri is only 14 points ahead of his teammate, and could well lose the championship lead in Mexico City.

The 1996 F1 world champion, Damon Hill, was surprised by Piastri's slump in form, and the Brit shared his reaction to the same via Instagram.

"For most of the season there has been next to nothing between Lando and Oscar. Now there is most definitely a yawning gap. Its perplexing," Hill wrote.

Screen grab of Damon Hill's Instagram story [via Instagram/@96f1champ]

Oscar Piastri will start the Mexican GP on the fourth row, alongside Isack Hadjar of the Racing Bulls. With McLaren looking strong in race trim during their simulations in practice, Piastri will be hoping to make up a few places during the race.

However, this will also not be easy, with the likes of Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Max Verstappen, and Kimi Antonelli already starting in front of him.

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Oscar Piastri reflects on "tough" qualifying session at the Mexican GP

Oscar Piastri after the Mexican Grand Prix Qualifying - Source: Getty

Oscar Piastri said he was "frustrated" after a "tough" qualifying session ahead of the Mexican GP. The McLaren driver also claimed that he had missed lap time throughout the weekend, despite his car feeling "normal."

Speaking to the media after the session on Saturday, Piastri shared his candid thoughts about his underwhelming performance in qualifying.

"Yeah it was tough. It felt like some of my laps, when it counted, were not bad, but just not the lap time that I am expecting obviously. Some things we need to try and understand but obviously a frustrating session," Piastri said (via Formula1.com).

"The thing that has been missing is the lap time. Everything has been been, the car is never going to feel amazing around here with the high altitude, but everything has felt pretty normal. The lap time has just not been there," he added.

Looking forward to the race, Piastri said he will now look to get a good start with the hope of making some moves into the first corner. Turn 1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez does offer an opportunity at the race start, with the run to the first corner being the longest on the current calendar.