"It's not a fair sport": Valtteri Bottas comments on Oscar Piastri's plight at McLaren

Valtteri Bottas has lent support to the struggling Oscar Piastri, who is seeing the 2025 F1 drivers' championship go further out of his grasp and into the hands of McLaren teammate Lando Norris. The Australian driver has gone from leading Norris with a 34-point gap to trailing him by 24 points within a few race weekends.

Piastri seems to have less of the ever-consistent and calm under-pressure image he had in the first half of the season. After the summer break, Norris has seemingly inherited those essential qualities and dominated with four consecutive podiums in the last four races, including two back-to-back wins in Mexico and Brazil - the first with a 30-second lead and the latter with a 10-second lead. Meanwhile, Piastri's last podium came six races ago at Monza.

Valtteri Bottas, who played second fiddle to Lewis Hamilton when they were teammates at Mercedes from 2017 to 2021, empathized with Oscar Piastri and asked him to be patient.

"I've been there," Bottas said about Piastri's plight (via 7News Adelaide). "Been there, mate (laughs). It's a tough sport. It's not a fair sport. Sometimes you just deal with it, and Oscar, you've still got so much time ahead of him, a great career ahead of him. Sometimes you also need patience."

In another interview, Bottas, a Mercedes reserve driver who will drive for Cadillac F1 in 2026, shared that he was supporting Piastri to win the drivers' championship.

"I am rooting for him for the title. He still has a chance," the 10-time Grand Prix winner said via CODE Sports.

Oscar Piastri has a 24-point deficit to overcome in three race weekends, one of which, the Qatar GP, will have an additional eight points up for grabs in the Sprint Race. However, Max Verstappen is also on the prowl, trailing the Aussie by 25 points. While a fifth consecutive title for the Red Bull driver seems far-fetched, he remains in the fight for second place.

Guenther Steiner asks Oscar Piastri to leave McLaren if Lando Norris beats him to the drivers' title

Lando Norris with Oscar Piastri at the F1 Singapore Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Former Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner has urged Oscar Piastri to leave McLaren if he cannot regroup 'strongly' in the aftermath of Lando Norris potentially winning the drivers' championship. The Australian driver encountered 'mysterious' problems that needed a change in driving style during the American leg of the calendar.

While conspiracy theories from fans pointed to McLaren intentionally favoring Norris, which team principal Andrea Stella flat-out denied, Piastri felt he needed to add 'more tools' to his toolbox, i.e., make his driving style more adaptable. However, if it all goes wrong for him, Guenther Steiner feels the 24-year-old can switch teams. (via The Red Flags Podcast YouTube channel):

"Let’s start with Oscar. I think if that is happening (losing the title to Norris), he just needs to regroup over the winter and come back stronger than before. Otherwise, if he doesn’t come back stronger, I think the best is he change his team then. That’s my opinion about it because otherwise you don’t get it back. But he could come back, because I still rate him highly."

The next race is the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which didn't treat McLaren well in 2024. Oscar Piastri needs to substantially outperform his teammate over the last three-week stretch of F1 in 2025 for a shot at his first title.