ANALYTICAL: CAN OSCAR PIASTRI OVERCOME FP1 LOSS TO WIN F1 TITLE
Oscar Piastri's F1 title hopes face a hurdle as he must sit out FP1 in Abu Dhabi due to rookie rules, giving rivals an edge. McLaren confirms free racing with Lando Norris.
Oscar Piastri might face a small disadvantage in the Formula 1 season's final race. He'll be stepping aside during a practice session in Abu Dhabi to let a rookie driver take the wheel.
Last weekend in Qatar, Piastri had a good shot at closing the gap with Lando Norris in the Drivers' Championship. A bad strategy from McLaren, which chose not to pit during a safety car period, cost him a spot on the podium.
Max Verstappen was able to get ahead, and Piastri couldn't catch him, finishing second. Norris ended up fourth after a difficult race. It wasn't the best result for Piastri. He was quick all weekend and could have gone into the Abu Dhabi race with a good chance of winning the title.
He still has a chance, but it will be harder because he has to sit out FP1 due to F1 rules. At the Mexico Grand Prix, Norris and eight other drivers gave up their seats to a young replacement.
F1 rules say a team must have a rookie driver in the car for two practice sessions a year—two for each car. Norris did this one last time in Mexico.
Piastri still needs to give up a practice session. It will be at the Abu Dhabi GP. The timing isn't great since Piastri is still in the title race.
Pato O'Ward replaced Norris in Mexico and will now replace Piastri. The Mexico event is good for rookie drivers because it's a track with no sprint events.
The same is true for Abu Dhabi, but it doesn't seem to help Piastri. It gives his rivals a practice session to get used to the track. Neither Norris nor Verstappen has to give up their seat.
Seven other teams still need to have a rookie driver in FP1 at the final event. If a team starts the season with a rookie driver, they only have to hand over one car twice.
Fans feel bad for Piastri. McLaren said the drivers can race freely in the final race. Verstappen could still finish as champion in 2025, even though it didn't look like it halfway through the season. He's 12 points behind Norris and four ahead of Piastri. If Norris doesn't get a podium finish and Verstappen wins, he'll take the title.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris can race without team orders.
This has led to questions about whether McLaren will ask Piastri to support Norris during the race. But McLaren boss Andrea Stella said their approach won't change for the final race.
Our approach will not change, he said after Qatar. We will let both Oscar and Lando compete.
Stella brought up the time three drivers were in the running to win, only for an unlikely winner to appear. It happened with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 and Sebastian Vettel in 2010.
Oscar can win the title, Stella said. We've seen a third driver win before.
We saw it in 2007 and 2010, and Oscar is fast. He deserves to perform well. We will let the drivers race each other. It's important for us that we can beat Verstappen with one of our drivers.
MAX VERSTAPPEN CLAIMS POLE IN MERCEDES-AMG GT3 AMID F1 RULE CONTROVERSY
Max Verstappen lands pole in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the Nurburgring while slamming F1’s "Mario Kart" battery regulations.
Max Verstappen just landed pole position in a Mercedes – and he didn’t miss the chance to take another shot at Formula 1's new rules. He’s using the gap between the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix to race in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, getting ready for the 24-hour event in May.
He’s in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Winward, running under the Verstappen Racing banner, teaming up with Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon for this four-hour race. Their qualifying run? Verstappen's squad nailed the fastest lap: 7:51.751 around the legendary circuit.
Honestly, this weekend at the Nurburgring is a breath of fresh air for Verstappen. He’s been vocal about his dislike for F1's latest regulations, which split the power pretty much evenly between traditional engines and electric systems.
These rules are some of the biggest changes F1 has ever had, forcing drivers to constantly watch their battery levels and use a boost button for overtakes. Verstappen didn’t hide his feelings, saying about the NLS race: “At least you can drive flat out without looking after the battery.” He’s been slamming F1’s direction for months, and after retiring late in China, he was running sixth; he doubled down, calling the system “Mario Kart". It’s not racing, he said. “We’re boosting past. Then you run out of battery, and they boost back past you again. For me, it’s just a joke.”
Verstappen made it clear: it’s not about sour grapes or losing. “I’d say the same if I were winning because I care about the racing product. It’s fundamentally flawed. It’s painful. It’ll ruin the sport eventually, and it’ll come back to bite them.”
An old press conference of Verstappen warning about the 2026 regulations popped up again online. He kept going: “You could have seen this coming ages ago. They should have listened in 2023. Maybe it’s a lesson, so this doesn’t happen again. You’ve got to be careful with how you say things, but we’re talking. They know where we stand as drivers. Some love it because they’re winning, and sure, if you have an advantage, why give it up?
“But talk to most drivers; this isn’t what we want, and I don’t think real fans want it either. It’s political. Some have the edge and want to keep it. I get that; I’m not stupid. But it’s just not good for the sport. Hopefully, we'll get rid of it soon.”
DISCOVER WHY JONATHAN WHEATLEY BELIEVES RED BULL’S STRUGGLES FUEL MAX VERSTAPPEN’S OUTRAGE
Jonathan Wheatley claims Max Verstappen's criticism of the "anti-racing" 2026 regulations reflects Red Bull's early struggles.
Jonathan Wheatley thinks Max Verstappen’s harsh words about Formula 1’s 2026 rules say as much about Red Bull’s current struggles as they do about the new regulations.
Verstappen hasn’t held back at all; he’s been one of the loudest voices against F1’s new energy-harvesting era, calling the rules “anti-racing” during pre-season testing.
Just two races in, Verstappen’s only got eight points. After Shanghai, he walked away without scoring anything. He finished the sprint race in ninth just outside the points, mostly because he lost ground when his car bogged down from a lack of battery power right off the line.
Things didn’t get better in the main race. Verstappen tried to claw his way back, but he had to park his RB22 because of an ERS cooling problem.
He didn’t sugarcoat his feelings. Verstappen slammed the new energy management rules, energy harvesting, and super clipping, all of it, as “fundamentally flawed". He called the racing itself a "joke". For him, the whole thing’s starting to feel more like Mario Kart than real racing.
“I swapped the simulator for my Nintendo Switch and have been practising Mario Kart, actually!” Verstappen joked when someone asked if sim time gives drivers an advantage now. “Honestly, I’m getting good at finding the mushrooms. The blue shell’s a bit tougher, but I’m working on it. No rockets yet, but they’re coming.”
He also warned F1’s leaders that these new rules could “eventually ruin the sport; it’ll come back to bite them.”
Not everyone’s moved by Verstappen’s complaints. Juan Pablo Montoya went as far as telling him, "There's the door.” Guenther Steiner, the former Haas boss, said it came off as nothing more than “toys out of the pram when it doesn’t go his way.”
Meanwhile, things look very different for Charles Leclerc. He’s been fighting for podiums in Australia and China and is loving the new era.
“I really enjoyed it,” Leclerc said. “Yeah, sometimes the overtakes feel a little fake if someone messes up their battery management; you get this huge speed difference. But we’re all learning when to push and when to risk it, and that’s creating some great overtaking spots. Today was a perfect example.”
Wheatley, watching all this, figures opinions on the new rules depend on how well one's doing. If you ask the guys up front, Ferrari and Mercedes, they love the new racing. The teams chasing them? Not so much.
He told reporters after the Chinese Grand Prix, “Talk to the Ferrari drivers; they’ll say it was a brilliant day. If you’re not winning, you just want to be able to race cleanly. Honestly, I didn’t see anything fake; every driver was fighting hard and fair. The midfield battles are fantastic; there’s a lot to like.”
And as for Verstappen’s comments? Wheatley gets it. When you’re struggling, it’s easy to point fingers.
