2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button has offered advice to championship leader Oscar Piastri as he deals with the pressure of fighting for his first drivers’ championship.
The Australian driver is currently in an intense battle for the title with his team-mate Lando Norris, and now four-time champion Max Verstappen has made a late surge in the standings to threaten the McLaren duo.
Heading into the Mexican Grand Prix, which kicks off the final five race weekends of the 2025 season, Piastri leads Norris by 14 points and Verstappen by 40 points.
The United States Grand Prix weekend proved challenging for Piastri. A Turn 1 crash on the opening lap of the sprint race cost both him and Norris their races as they were forced to retire with damage. Then, when it came to qualifying for the grand prix, he only managed to secure a P6 start, which he converted to a fifth-place finish. In comparison, Verstappen won both the sprint race and grand prix, and Norris took second in the grand prix.
Button discussed the “tricky situation” Piastri finds himself in during the Sky Sports F1 broadcast.
“Yeah, it’s a very tricky situation that he finds himself in. The car isn’t performing as he would have hoped, and as it was at the start of the year. It was so strong, they were unbeatable. Now, you’re slightly on the back foot with the car, and personally, you’re thinking about the world championship. So, you’re thinking about not losing points in certain races, not making mistakes, and that’s sometimes when mistakes happen.
Jenson Button
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
“I will say, I’m the first person who made too many mistakes when I was fighting for my world championship in the end, and I put myself under too much pressure, and I didn’t handle that very well. But hopefully Oscar has learnt from other people’s failures, he’s got Mark Webber looking after him, who’s been through difficult times and keeping him positive in this scenario.”
Up to this point, McLaren has opted to allow both drivers to race, with them not backing a specific driver in the title fight. When asked by Sky Sports F1 after the race if the Woking outfit may have to adjust its approach, Piastri explained: “I don’t know. I don’t think so. We are still so incredibly tight and we’ve both said we wanted an opportunity to try and fight for the championship because we deserve it.
“So I think it’s far too close to start picking one over the other.”
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