Oscar Piastri victim of 'small differences' collapse in F1 title loss

Oscar Piastri was the victim of "small differences" in his surprise F1 title loss in 2025, former driver Anthony Davidson believes.

After winning the 2025 Dutch GP, Piastri led team-mate Lando Norris by 34 points and Max Verstappen by 104, but suffered a drastic loss in form in the flyaway races. 

He crashed out in Azerbaijan after also jumping the start, before crashing out in the United States and Sao Paulo Sprints, before finishing fifth in three successive races in Austin, Mexico City, and at Interlagos.

This coincided with a rich vein of form for Norris and Verstappen, who both hauled in the Australian, who was still in with an outside shot at the title in the Abu Dhabi finale.

Ultimately, Piastri finished on 410 points, 13 behind Norris and 11 behind Verstappen, with the Melbourne-native previously regarded as a mentally unflappable driver.

However, despite the setback, former F1 racer and 2014 WEC champion Davidson believes that Piastri was simply a victim of "really small differences" which "added up."

"I don't think he fell apart; it was just that Max and Lando got into a stride and they were getting more out of the car," Davidson exclusively told RacingNews365. 

"They had nothing to lose, and I don't think Oscar crumbled. I just think things didn't go his way, and he could have so easily carried the momentum on his side.

"He could easily have not locked up in Baku and hit the wall; he might have got away with it, and if he had, he would have been world champion; he would have bagged enough points.

"We're just talking about fine margins, like in 2021 with Max and  Lewis [Hamilton], it was just those really small differences added up, so it seems like a big, dramatic thing for us, but I don't think he has to change his approach at all.

"If you re-ran last year, he very much could win it doing exactly what he did, and with just a couple of tweaks here and there, it could be a very different outcome."

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