“Dun-dun… dun-dun… dun-dun……duuuunnnn-duun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dunnnnnnnnnnn…” That if you didn’t realise was the phonetic representation of the Jaws movie theme tune. And the Red Bull team of old would’ve been blasting it out from a sub-woofer in their garage to unnerve their McLaren rivals.
But now even a bit of fun over some tape stuck on the wall is frowned upon and described as unsporting. Team boss Laurent Mekies when asked about the Red Bull mechanic who attempted to remove Lando Norris’ marker from the pit lane wall in Austin, claimed the fun and games would be back “under control” this weekend.
Yet there’s a mood in the paddock air which believes Verstappen is very much in the fight for the 2025 drivers’ championship. Oscar Pastry in the FIA press conference admitted he had been somewhat taken back with the Red Bull driver’s resurgence.
Piastri “surprised” at Verstappen run of wins
“The run of form that [Verstappen]’s had since Monza has been a bit of a surprise,” Piastri acknowledged. “Again, there were flashes of that kind of performance at certain points earlier in the season, but there were also some pretty big dips. So to now be consistent, I think that has been a bit of a surprise.”
Consistent has been the key with Verstappen winning four of the five races (including Sprint) since a poor weekend at his home race in the Netherlands. They key? The Monza floor upgrade which has transformed the previously Ricky to handle RB21.
Since Tsunoda got the new floor a week later than Max, his fortunes have also been upended with him scoring 14 of his 25 Red Bull points for the year in Baku and Austin, Texas.
Of the three title contenders, Piastri had an advantage on Friday in Mexico, given both Verstappen and Norris were giving up their seats in FP1 under the FIA’s mandatory young driver rules. Yet despite having double the time of his rivals, as in Austin, Piastri was again worryingly off the pace. Whilst Max roared back as though he’d never been away to claim the fastest time in the Mexican afternoon sun, McLaren’s Aussie driver was languishing down in twelfth place some 0.840 seconds off the pace.
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Oscar downtrodden after Mexico practice failures
He seemed downtrodden after the session assessing his day as follows: “I think the lap on softs on low fuel was pretty average, so I’m not surprised with the lap time,” he explained. “We tried a lot of things. We will go through what worked, what didn’t. Overall it felt reasonable. See how we can tune it for tomorrow and try and make it a bit more consistent, hopefully.”
Back at the US Grand Prix it was a similar theme, with Piastri two to three tenths away from his team mate all weekend. When asked if he now understood what caused the deficit to Norris in Austin, Piastri sighed replying: “There were a few things we identified from Austin.
“Obviously it was a pretty messy weekend as well. Plenty of things that we found, all small things but when you put them all together they add up. I think we’ve got a good handle on last week,” Oscar concluded.
Having watched the interview whilst presenting for Sky F1, 1997 champion driver Jacques Villeneuve was quick to spot the change in his demeanour from just a few weeks ago. “It’s a continuation for Oscar,” he said. “We didn’t hear a lot of confidence.
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McLaren driver “messy since Baku”
“His driving has been messy since Baku, that can make a tenth or two difference, a little mistake here and there and it gets to your head. Seeing Max at the front, that’s going to eat him all evening. If you’re running and looking backwards, things go wrong and that’s what’s happening.”
Piastri has never gone well in Mexico, on his two previous outings he’s finished a disappointing eight on Sunday. And as with Austin, Texas, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is low grip, something Piastri does not enjoy.
He clearly lost time at the Circuit of the Americas braking into turn 1, also the bumpy introduction into the high speed turn 6and the tight hairpin at turn 11. It was clear Oscar was not confident on the brakes into the lower turns like 11 and 15, which also is an Achilles heel of the MCL39 which loses time through slow corners.
Lack of pace a concern for Piastri
Jacques Villeneuve believes the pressure is getting to the young Australian: “It might not be down to the car, the driver just needs to be a little bit tense behind the wheel and that’s it – it’s gone. He doesn’t feel the car anymore, doesn’t drive it smoothly, starts making mistakes. Then the set-up that usually works is no good.
“He just needs to get back into that relaxed place and he doesn’t seem to be into it,” observed the 1997 driver’s champion. Jamie Chadwick, three times winner of the W series and now a WEC driver set to take the championship was on duty as SKY’s expert driver analyst and she observed also the difference between Verstappen and Piastri when handling pressure.
“Max is thriving. Austin was an environment that was challenging, and he built such an advantage over the field. Now that he’s got a handle on this Red Bull, he’s a real threat for the championship,” said Chadwick.
“Oscar made two big errors in Baku, which you can draw a line under, but he lacked a few tenths in Austin, which was more of a concern. He overcame it from last year to this year, so hopefully, for his sake, he can again,” she concluded.
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It started going wrong in Monza
Yet the niggle for Piastri came a week earlier in Monza, when after a botched pitstop for Lando Norris saw Piastri take his position on track, the team ordered him to return it to Lando. Then came Baku and in Singapore Norris made a brave m move up the inside of Piastri causing him to lose a place and miss out on a podium finish.
A self inflicted zero points in the Sprint cost Piastri again when it came to qualifying. He had no data on how the car was responding and subsequently qualified a lowly P6, whilst Verstappen marched to another pole. Mexico too looks like it will be a struggle for Oscar, but he needs to get something out of the weekend where another victory for Max Verstappen is not a certainty but is definitely on the cars.
“dun-dun……duuuunnnn-duun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dunnnnnnnnnnn…” Go on Red Bull – give it a blast.
Why Red Bull future driver plans don’t include Yuki Tsunoda
Yesterday marked the three month timescale before the all new 2026 Formula One cars and power units hit the circuit for the first time in 2026. The driver market this season was mostly speculation and a lot of hot air surrounding the never realistic move to be made by Max Verstappen to Mercedes.
Now both Mercedes driers are locked into another of Toto’s “multi-year” contracts which he admitted has clauses which could see either driver secure for just a single season more.
Outside the Red Bull family only French Colapinto remains unsigned and de facto team principal Flavio Briatore has made it clear the Alpine seat alongside Pierre Gasly will go to either junior driver Paul Aron or to Colapinto himself. Jack Doohan’s F1 career appears to be over….. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
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