New Delhi, Nov 4 (NationPress) Oscar Piastri’s mid-season decline in performance has led to him losing the Formula 1 championship lead. According to 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, the Australian's current difficulties indicate that he may have already hit his maximum performance capacity.

During an appearance on Sky Sports’ The F1 Show, prior to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Villeneuve expressed that Piastri's recent inability to keep up with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris may be attributed to the fact that he was already operating at his limits earlier in the season. “At the beginning of the season, Lando wasn’t at his best, unlike the Lando we witnessed at the end of last year,” Villeneuve elaborated. “We kept saying, ‘Piastri must be improving, keeping pace with Lando and even going faster.’ But was it truly Piastri’s improvement, or was Lando just struggling? He often mentioned discomfort with the car, which may have made Piastri a bit complacent. When your only competition is your teammate, you might not push to that last limit, that last tenth of a second.”

Piastri had seemed on track to secure his first Drivers’ Championship title when he triumphed at the Dutch Grand Prix in late August—his seventh victory in 15 races—placing him 34 points ahead of Norris. However, following that win, the 24-year-old has not managed to secure victory in five straight races and has not reached the podium in the last four, leading to Norris reclaiming the championship lead with a commanding win at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Villeneuve believes the pivotal moment occurred when Norris regained his top form. “Suddenly, we witness Baku and Max winning everything. Lando stepped up, driving faster and better than he has all season,” he remarked. “Piastri isn’t rising to the occasion; he’s already at his limit. When you need to push for those extra two tenths, you can start encountering issues with the car that weren’t previously present.”

The former world champion suggested that the mistakes creeping into Piastri’s performance—such as crashes during both qualifying and the race in Azerbaijan, and a botched overtaking maneuver that eliminated both McLaren drivers in Austin’s Sprint—are indicative of a driver trying too hard. “When you drive within your limits, the car feels perfect. It’s easy, you drive, and conserve your tires. But once you have to push a couple of tenths faster, the car becomes difficult to manage. Everything feels wrong, and you can’t pinpoint why,” Villeneuve stated.

He dismissed the notion that the McLaren car was responsible for the change in form. “The McLaren hasn’t evolved significantly, so there shouldn’t be a need to alter how it’s driven. The tires remain consistent; sometimes they’re softer, other times they’re not. The track conditions may vary, but the differences aren't drastic,” he explained. “It just takes your teammate to elevate their performance a bit, and suddenly you’re left thinking, ‘how do I match that?’ You end up driving with tension, which leads to slower lap times and the creation of setups that don’t work.”

Villeneuve added that such mental declines are common among drivers who lose confidence when compared to a faster teammate. “You start questioning your driving style. You review data and see, ‘my teammate is a tenth quicker in that corner; I need to change my approach.’ That’s when mistakes occur. You must remember what you were doing right and build upon that,” he said.

With only four races left, beginning with this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Piastri is trailing Norris by a mere point in what has become one of the most fiercely contested title races in recent memory.