Piastri spotted 'carrying himself' differently in Baku before 'out of sorts' McLaren performance – journalist

Oscar Piastri will be looking to bounce back in his quest to win the 2025 title after crashing in Baku. But the pressure may already be getting to the McLaren star.

Damon Hill had Piastri as the ‘odds on’ favourite to win the championship after teammate Lando Norris retired at Zandvoort with a mechanical failure. Piastri held a 34-point lead over the Brit, but the last two races have seen that advantage cut down.

Norris came out on top in the intra-team battle at Monza after McLaren controversially deployed team orders, forcing Piastri to give up second after his teammate suffered a slow stop. He took three points off the championship leader before making further gains in Baku.

McLaren suffered their worst weekend of the 2025 season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Piastri crashed in qualifying, while Norris put his car in P7. Things did not improve on Sunday for the former as he jumped the start, before his car went into anti-stall and crashed at turn five.

It was an incredibly rare off-performance for the 24-year-old, who has barely put a foot wrong since joining the grid in 2023. Piastri had ‘taken a corner off his car’ for the ‘first time’ in his F1 career as people started to notice a telling change to his demeanour.

People in the F1 paddock spotted Oscar Piastri carrying himself differently with his body language before Baku crash

Speaking via the F1 Nation podcast, journalist Tom Clarkson and former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer discussed Piastri’s disastrous weekend in Baku. They noted that people in the paddock are starting to notice a change to his body language.

“I thought he dealt with it all very well with a smile on his face,” said Clarkson, talking about how Piastri handled questions about McLaren’s team orders in Monza.

“Although interestingly, someone did come up to me after the press conference, someone who’d been in the room and said, I’m no body language expert, but Oscar is carrying himself a little differently this weekend.

“I didn’t notice that myself, but it was an interesting observation and then you go and look and see. He was out of sorts all weekend, wasn’t he?”

Palmer added: “I thought it was interesting in that press conference actually, when you asked him if he would have given up the win and he had a little retort back, but he sort of didn’t mention, he didn’t easily say, yeah, I would have given up the win, which is what I thought you’d just say, wouldn’t you?

“Because you don’t have to prove it. But it felt like there was a little bit more, a bit of bite in there. But I don’t think it translates to being on the track.

“I think it’s when you’re on the track, visors down, you’re not thinking about the outside noise, you’re thinking about lap time and if the lap time is not there, you start pushing harder, you start pushing harder and you start making mistakes.”

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Is Oscar Piastri feeling the pressure as the 2025 title battle heats up?

With seven races to go, the 2025 title battle is starting to intensify. Max Verstappen could be back in the hunt for the championship after winning in Monza and Baku.

Juan Pablo Montoya says Piastri ‘lost his temper’, claiming that he is starting to feel the pressure of fighting for the championship. Piastri has been compared to Kimi Raikkonen for his steely demeanour, but recent races have seen that slowly fade.

The Aussie will be keen to bounce back from his disaster in Baku and build a larger lead over his rivals. But he will have to do it on pure merit, as McLaren will not prioritise Piastri over Norris, as his lead is not big enough.

Jolyon Palmer has warned Piastri that he could face similar issues in Singapore as he did in Baku, given the street circuit characteristics. One mistake could see him find the barriers again; he cannot afford another slip-up as Norris and Verstappen close the gap.