Piastri urged to 'figure out how to close that gap' to Norris as Baku ghosts loom

Piastri under the microscope as Baku looms

Oscar Piastri heads to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with his form under intense scrutiny, after F1 Nation pundits James Hinchcliffe and Jolyon Palmer dissected the Australian's slump and challenged him to "figure out how to close that gap" to McLaren team mate Lando Norris.

Piastri was one of the firm favourites for the 2025 Drivers' Championship until his season unravelled in the later rounds, and he has not fully been able to bounce back since, having struggled to match Norris in the new generation of cars. The Australian spent the first half of 2025 edging out his team mate for race wins and steadily built a commanding lead, but his fortunes shifted dramatically in Baku.

A weekend to forget in Baku

A scrappy 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend saw Piastri qualify P9, jump the lights, activate anti-stall and drop to the back of the field on the opening lap before crashing into the barriers. From that point onwards, Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen found an advantage over Piastri and relegated him to third place in the standings.

While he was afforded the chance to shake off the disappointment and prepare for the new-for-2026 regulations, any thought of another title charge was quashed by Mercedes' early dominance this season. Norris offered McLaren some hope as he made the most of their upgrades to clinch victories in Hungary and the Netherlands, and he came close again last time out in Madrid, where he overshadowed Piastri's "painful" drive to P8.

'One of the most anonymous weekends'

Speaking on the latest episode of F1 Nation, Hinchcliffe suggested that the memories of Madrid weigh heavier on Piastri than the ghosts of his Baku crash.

"I think the ghosts of last week are probably more in his head than the ghosts of last year, to be honest," Hinchcliffe explained. "He had his team mate on pole – what should've been pole by an obscene margin had he not nearly binned it at the final corner in Qualifying.

"He was walking the race before the VSC, clearly the quickest car at the end but just couldn't get around, and it was one of the most anonymous weekends for Oscar. He was barely mentioned. He just sort of qualified where he did, raced where he did and you didn't really hear from him."

The Canadian believes the core issue is the performance Norris has unlocked since the summer: "I think it's more about what happened last week, trying to figure out how to close that gap to Lando – what has he found? Where has this extra gear come from since we got to Hungary that we just haven't seen Oscar able to match? It's kind of been all season long.

"I thought early in the year that maybe Oscar was getting on top of the rules a little bit better, but where Lando was maybe struggling to figure certain things out, he's continued to improve, whereas it seems like Oscar hasn't been able to continue that trajectory as Lando's got better. It's going to be a tough weekend for him just because that's the current form within that team."

Palmer: Piastri can be grateful McLaren are out of the fight

Former Renault driver Palmer suggested the lack of championship pressure should give Piastri breathing space to find improvements, with McLaren sitting 197 points adrift of Mercedes in the constructors' battle.

"Oscar can be grateful that McLaren aren't in the championship fight in a way because otherwise we'd be looking at him in exactly the same way as we're looking at George [Russell]. He's capitulating this season," Palmer commented.

"Oscar had one half of a season last year where he looked like a champion and he drove like a champion. He was amazing, and bearing in mind he's an F3 and F2 champion, it felt this time last year like the second coming of a great Aussie champion. Could he do what Mark Webber didn't?

"It felt like it was the right thing, but when you actually look through Oscar's career in F1 – he's had three and a half years now – half a year was amazing. Three years were basically [spent as] second driver to Lando."

Could Baku spark a revival?

Palmer conceded that Piastri retains the ability to challenge at the front again – noting he "could turn up and win in Baku", the circuit where he took his second career victory in 2024 – but pointed out that this season's car handling doesn't necessarily align with the Australian's driving preferences.

"He's still capable now – he could turn up and win in Baku," he added. "He's capable of great drives, but the consistency in his comparison to Lando is not there apart from that half a year last year, which was great timing because it set him up for a title tilt. That's my question on it – is this where Oscar is at?

"He's not as comfortable sliding the car around as Lando. I think last year, his car suited him a little bit more until we went to these low-grip tracks and we saw his limitations more in Austin and Mexico.

"I feel like he's just a driver who will be hoping for a run of form, but also maybe just for next winter and a bit of a reset right now. Every weekend just feels like it's a real struggle for him."

Piastri's form in the McLaren intra-team battle was just one of the talking points that emerged in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix preview, which saw Palmer and Hinchcliffe join F1 Nation host Tom Clarkson.