Oscar Piastri will find himself at a major disadvantage if this year’s title race goes down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. He currently leads the Drivers’ Championship standings ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen but the battle is far from over. The top three are separated by just 40 points heading into the final five races of the campaign.
It looks increasingly likely that Abu Dhabi will play host to a final-day title decider for the first time since 2021. If that happens, Piastri will be fighting an uphill battle from the very start. That is because McLaren are likely to replace him with a rookie driver in the first practice session of the weekend.
Patricio O’Ward is already confirmed to be driving in FP1 at this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix. That will complete McLaren’s requirement to use two inexperienced drivers in Norris’ car over the course of the season.
They still need to complete a second run in Piastri’s car, though, and Abu Dhabi would appear to be the likely choice. The other race weekends are less favourable for two main reasons.
They are either sprint events, where FP1 is the only practice session of the weekend, or they take place at street circuits where the risk of damage is higher and track time can be limited due to crashes causing red flags.
As a result, it seems likely that Piastri will be replaced in the first practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit, meaning he will have less time to get up to speed in comparison to his title rivals.
The session takes place in the middle of the day, where track conditions are not representative of what drivers will face in qualifying or the race itself, which are both held in the evening.
Piastri will become the first Australian world champion since Alan Jones, who claimed the honours in 1980, if he ends the season at the top of the standings.
Speaking after last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, he said: “I’d still rather be where I am than the other two [Norris and Verstappen], definitely Max and Red Bull have found a lot of pace since the summer break as well.
“We saw flashes of it at the start of the year but it’s been consistent since then. I’ve been in fights that were as close or at this point even closer than what they are now.
“So, I’ve got the evidence for myself that things can still turn out well and I still fully believe that I can win the championship.”