Oscar to take Wingman role?
Posted on November 28, 2025 Tags: Formula One
A Most Unlikely Scenario!
IT WOULD BE TANTAMOUNT TO A DAGGER-BLOW to Oscar Piastri’s heart if McLaren were to formerly drop the Aussie to No2, to give the team the best chance of securing the title.
It’s nearly unthinkable. But that was the scuttlebutt permeating throughout the paddock this week as Formula One edges ever so close to revealing its World Champion Driver for 2025.
And who could ever have predicted that both the front runner and second placed drivers in the championship would be DQ’d from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, leaving front runner Lando Norris on 390 points and Oscar Piastri now incredibly tied with a lightning-fast finishing Max Verstappen on 360.
But that’s what was happening this week in the ever-changing wild world of Formula One, as the caravanserai is back in the Persian Gulf, having travelled more than 13,000 kilometres to tackle the penultimate round of the season, the Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail International Circuit.
Qatar is also the sixth and final Sprint weekend of the year, with a veritable treasure of maximum points up for grabs, before the season-ending Abu Dhabi bonanza December 7 at the stunning Yas Marina desert layout.
An interesting thought, which fizzled out!
McLaren’s double disqualification at the Las Vegas Grand Prix could force the team to impose team orders for the final two races of F1 2025, according to PlanetF1.com’s news editor, Michelle Foster (pictured below).
As we now know, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were dramatically excluded after a post-race investigation in the Nevada desert, leaving the Aussie 24 points behind his teammate and level on points with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third.
McLaren’s disqualification was for excessive skid-block wear (on the small wooden detector plank under each F1 car) and is a common hazard in the current ground-effect era, particularly around the Las Vegas street circuit. The skid block must be 300 mm wide and 10 mm thick, with strict tolerances. It runs longitudinally from 330 mm behind the front wheel centre line to the rear wheel centre line.
So, Michelle Foster – who made the brave call in her column earlier in the week – said the time had come for McLaren to call time on Oscar’s title hopes and prioritise Lando, to keep Max at arm’s length.
And good on her for sticking her neck out and being so bold. Because her logic is sound:
“JUST ISSUE THE ORDER!”
Michelle Foster believes McLaren’s DQ in Vegas could force the team to impose team orders for the final two races of F1 2025, using Oscar as Lando’s wingman.
She believes the time has come for McLaren to call time on Oscar’s title hopes and prioritise Lando to keep Max at arm’s length.“
“McLaren needs to know heading into the final two race weekends that Oscar Piastri will take points off Max, and Max only. Not Norris,” she wrote.
“And, the one way to know that for sure, is to issue the order!
“Without a doubt it will hurt, but it would hurt a little less than throwing away a first championship double in almost three decades,” Michelle said.
Oscar’s home truths
Lando gets some advice from his manager and constant mate, Mark Webber.
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri opened-up after the Las Vegas debacle and had this to say about his current predicament:
“So, I’m just going to go into the next two weeks trying to be as prepared as I can. Have the best weekends I can. [It would] be nice to get some good results on the board to finish the year. But the championship picture is what it is. We’ll see what I can do.”
And this week, asked about Lando Norris, Oscar said McLaren had raised the prospect of the Australian helping his teammate win the world championship, but it was rejected.
State of Play – Qatar, United Arab Republic!
The most important and easiest part of the title race to remember this weekend is that, if Lando Norris outscores both Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen by two points come the end of Sunday’s race, he will be crowned champion.
As we line up for the year’s final Sprint Race on Saturday at the Qatar Grand Prix, Lando remains in the box seat position in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Even though the gap has narrowed dramatically after Las Vegas, Lando is the only driver who can secure the title at Lusail International Circuit this weekend.
And if Oscar and Max equal or better Lando’s results, the title race will be heading further into the sand dunes for a decider in magnificent Abu Dhabi!
Max’s and Oscar’s 2023 Triumphs!
A Weekend Shared with Oscar
There are other options to this scenario, but I’d rather not be going there as it’s doing my head in! And I have no wish to do the same to you.
But I simply can’t help myself.
The many brain surgeons among you might remember that in 2023 Max Verstappen secured his third World Championship in the Sprint in Qatar by finishing second to Oscar Piastri, the Aussie’s first Sprint win.
And I’m reliably advised that is not possible for Lando Norris this weekend, due to the number points still available.
Oscar’s Coming of Age
Back to 2023 and Max Verstappen only needed sixth place to secure that coveted title, although his P2 result in the Sprint sealed the championship. Max was nearly invincible, dominating the season with a record-breaking 19 wins out of 22 Grands Prix, finishing on the podium 21 times.
But the Qatar Sprint Race was a momentous occasion for the young Aussie and the true blooding of Oscar Piastri, heralding his arrival in fine style with his first F1 victory. Starting from pole – in itself a feat – he lost the lead briefly to George Russell’s Mercedes on soft tyres, but fought back to reclaim it mid-race.
And he backed up the achievement in Sunday’s Grand Prix with a sensational second to Max. Lando was third.
As three-time champion that year, Max joined legends like Jack Brabham, Nicki Lauda, and Ayrton Senna in the exclusive triple-title club.
Formula One’s Quest for Glory
And now the wily Dutchman is fast hunting down an extraordinary fifth consecutive title.
Although it seems the permutations are as many as there are about me winning lotto!
Btw, I’m still embarrassed and bristling over my balls-up last week after promoting the Las Vegas Grand Prix as being midnight Sunday WA Time, rather than midday!
But I did read somewhere this week that at 83 years the brain does change dramatically – and I’m only a smidgeon shy of that. So please forgive me.
Final Words to the Diehards!
As Oscar Piastri currently is level on race wins for the season with his teammate, should Lando Norris score one more point than the Aussie and Lando does not win the Qatar Grand Prix, Oscar still has a mathematical chance of winning the title. And that would mean a final-race decider at the glorious Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.
Weather – Qatar, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
With Qatar being five hours behind Western Australia, and both the sprint and the Qatar Grand Prix aces taking place at night, the freezing conditions in Nevada desert are replaced with far more favourable conditions as the field heads onto the Lusail International Circuit for what is recognised as one of the Formula 1’s most physical races.
Its relentless sequence of medium-and-high-speed corners, extreme heat and humidity, and the constant demands it places on drivers’ necks, stamina, and concentration.
Track Layout and Cornering Demands
Lusail’s kilometre-long straight
Designed originally for MotoGP, Lusail’s 5.38 km layout features 16 corners, and unlike stop-start circuits, Lusail flows continuously, meaning drivers spend long stretches under sustained lateral G-forces.
Drivers often compare it to Mugello in Italy, another famously physical track, but Lusail is wider and faster, amplifying the sustained neck strain from long-duration G-forces in corners.
The circuit punishes core and arm fatigue from constant steering corrections at high speed.
The punishment seems never-ending, with minimal recovery time: unlike circuits with long straights or slow corners, Lusail offers few chances to relax. Combined with the climate and ever-present humidity it becomes a two-hour test of endurance as much as skill. Drivers must be at peak fitness to withstand the strain across the full Grand Prix distance of the Lusail International Circuit.
The kilometre-long main straight feeds into a heavy braking zone at Turn 1, but after that, the rhythm is punishingly fast and flowing, with few moments of respite.
The 19-lap Sprint around Lusail is the first race action of the weekend, with the late afternoon sun setting over Lusail for the session, and in-race temperatures of 25°C expected.
That’s 5pm local time Saturday, 10pm WST with Race Qualifying 2am-3am Sunday in the West.
Race Day Sunday
The 2025 Qatar Grand Prix at Lusail starts at 7:00 pm local time (Doha) on Sunday, Nov 30 – which is 12:00 midnight AWST (Perth time) going into Monday, Dec 1.
I promise I’ve triple checked it!!!
Race Schedule
My Time WA
QATAR GRAND PRIX
Lusail lnternational Circuit Nov 28- Dec 30
P1 Friday 28th November 21:30
Sprint Shootout
Saturday 29th November 01:30
SPRINT RACE
Saturday 29th November 22:00
QUALIFYING
Sunday 30th November 02:00
RACE
Monday 1st December 00:00
NEXT EVENT
ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
Yas Marina Circuit
Friday Dec 5 – Sunday Dec 7
EDITED by AC
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