Oscar Piastri handed F1 title instruction to fix key concern

2009 F1 champion Jenson Button has stated Oscar Piastri must speak directly to the top McLaren F1 management team to relieve himself of concerns in the ongoing F1 title fight.

Piastri has endured a challenging run of form of late and has failed to finish ahead of team-mate Lando Norris at the last six grands prix.

Norris' run of crossing the line ahead of Piastri began at the Italian Grand Prix, where McLaren ordered both drivers to swap positions after Norris was disadvantaged by a slow pit stop.

At the following event in Azerbaijan, Piastri crashed out of qualifying and the race and later admitted the Monza team orders had played a role in his on-track difficulties.

Piastri has continued to endure challenges and now sits 24 points down on Norris with three rounds remaining.

When asked how Piastri can tackle the issue, Button told Sky F1: “You’ve got to speak to the lead guy. You’ve got to get out there and speak to Zak [Brown] and Andrea [Stella].

“Those are the people that make the decisions, and you need to speak to them and say, 'well, was this the case? Was this fair? Would you do it again? Do you have my back?'

“You have to trust them when they tell you the truth. That's the main thing, a lot of the time, you'll say 'did they mean that? Do they want this British driver to win the championship, because it's a British team?'

“Well, Zak is not British. Andrea is not British. The best man wins and I think it's just being as open as you can.”

Piastri is managed by former F1 driver Mark Webber who experienced his own intra-team concerns when paired alongside Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull.

Button has warned Piastri that he will not receive closure unless he speaks to management himself, rather than delegating to Webber.

“There’s so much always in teams,” he said. “There's a little chitter chatter everywhere. 

“The most important thing is just to beeline for the most important person in the team who makes decisions and just have it out with them.

“For the driver to do that, it's really important as well. It's great if your manager [does it], because he's been around, he knows everyone in the paddock.

“But it needs to be the driver, the guy that is in the car, who is feeling like it wasn't fair.”