Günther Steiner’s U-turn: “No reason to panic” for Oscar Piastri

For much of last year, it looked as though Oscar Piastri was on course for a comfortable title win. However, a dip in form towards the end of the season meant that the McLaren star not only had to concede defeat to his team-mate Lando Norris in the world championship battle, but he even slipped to third place behind Red Bull Racing star Max Verstappen.

During this period, Piastri had to put up with a lot of criticism and some well-meaning advice. This included comments from Günther Steiner, who, on the ‘Red Flags’ podcast, suggested to the Melbourne-born driver that a team change might be a possible solution to his slump in form.

“He simply needs to regroup over the winter and then come back stronger. And if he can’t manage that, then perhaps it would be best for him to switch teams. But he could come back stronger, because I consider him a strong driver,” emphasised the South Tyrolean, who has since changed his mind.

Although Piastri has not regained his former form this year and has yet to secure a race win, Steiner recently said in an interview with ‘Speedcafe.com’: “At the moment, I think it’s better if he stays, because otherwise he’d basically be backing down in front of McLaren. In my opinion, he doesn’t need to do that. He’s good enough to stay there. He needs to get back to where he was last year. And then we’ll see how things go from there.”

Steiner does not want to read too much into the fact that Piastri has scored significantly fewer points than the champion from within their own ranks: “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. He’s still achieving good results. It’s not a complete defeat. And he’s up against Lando, who is one of the best on the track at the moment.”

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Moreover, there aren’t many alternatives available. “There aren’t many vacant seats at the big four teams, so I’d say that staying at McLaren is the best thing for him at the moment,” concludes Steiner. And he emphasises: “We all have good years and bad years. And he isn’t having a bad year; it’s more of an average one. He’s still young, so it’s important now that he doesn’t panic. Because there’s no reason to.”