McLaren team principal Andrea Stella appeared to fire a subtle dig at Oscar Piastri before the Australian was disqualified at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Las Vegas race was certainly one to forget for those associated with McLaren, as both Piastri and championship leader Lando Norris were disqualified for technical infringements in Sin City.
The skid blocks on both cars were judged to be less than the minimum depth of nine millimetres allowed by FIA regulations.
So, despite Norris finishing second behind Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, Mercedes’ George Russell was upgraded to second while Kimi Antonelli became a retrospective third place.
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Norris remains the championship leader despite Verstappen’s victory in Vegas, with the Englishman 24 points ahead of the Dutchman and Piastri heading into next weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.
The 26-year-old will win the drivers’ title with a round to spare in Doha if he earns two more points than the chasing duo over the weekend.
There are 58 points available across the Qatar and Abu Dhabi weekends, with the former also featuring a sprint race.
Of course, the McLaren team and Norris will no doubt be looking forward to potentially capturing the title, but Piastri will likely look back on the season with regret.
Following August’s Dutch Grand Prix, the Australian held a 34-point lead over the Englishman, as well as a 104-point lead over Verstappen, but has failed to win a single race since.
In that same period, Verstappen has won four races – the Italian, Azerbaijan, United States and Las Vegas Grand Prix – while Norris has captured victory in Mexico and Brazil as well as regularly podiuming.
Still, it is possible, although improbable, that Piastri claws back the lead in the final two race weekends of the season, with McLaren team principal Stella hinting that the Aussie needs to find the “will to win” ahead of Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
“Oscar needs to go into the final two races with the will to win them and take it from there,” Stella said.
"It's still a very exciting and interesting finale of the season. Max, Lando, Oscar and everyone will go into the next race thinking they need to win and see what happens."
Speaking to F1, the Italian also apologised to both McLaren drivers “for a loss of points” at a “critical time in their championship campaigns”.
"While this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season,” Stella added.
A McLaren driver has not won the title since Lewis Hamilton’s maiden triumph in 2008.
Topics: Formula 1, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Motorsport
Luke Davies