Juan Pablo Montoya gave a controversial piece of advice to Oscar Piastri, saying the driver should sacrifice three race weekends in Formula 1 to understand why he is so far behind teammate Lando Norris.
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“He needs to understand why Lando is more comfortable than him, what is missing and what they need to do. What works for Lando will not necessarily work for Oscar, and what Oscar looks for in the car is completely different. Oscar should come to McLaren and say: ‘Look, let me try, even if we fail badly. Let me explore different and risky paths’,” he said.
“They need to get out of the bubble they are operating in, because that works for Lando, but not for him. They need to broaden the horizon and maybe go through some difficult weekends. Who cares? There are still 12 races left; sacrifice two or three for the sake of the other nine, instead of having 12 more mediocre races,” he continued.
“When you work thinking only from one weekend to the next, it is very difficult to come and say: ‘we will have a poor performance this weekend’. You need to find out what is missing. Oscar has very competent people around him. They cannot be afraid to dare and try something radical,” he added.
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The Australian’s campaign has been quite complicated, having two consecutive races at the start of the championship without being able to start – Australia and China. And despite managing to finish on the podium in Japan and Miami, he has generally struggled, and now appears 36 points behind Norris.
In fact, the 2025 Formula 1 champion won the Hungarian GP, appearing in fifth place in the Drivers’ World Championship, two ahead of Piastri, who is seventh.
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