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Articles by Pranay Bhagi

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Jacques Villeneuve makes his pick for championship favourite out of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
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Jacques Villeneuve makes his pick for championship favourite out of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

McLaren star Lando Norris dominated the 2025 Mexican GP, taking the pole position and winning the race by over 30 seconds over Charles Leclerc in P2. Oscar Piastri started P7 and finished the race in P5, conceding the title lead to his teammate. Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve came out after the race in Mexico and made his pick for the title between the McLaren drivers.Oscar Piastri has been in subpar form since the last few F1 races, as he retired in Azerbaijan and failed to make the podium in Singapore, the US, or the Mexican GP. Coming into the Mexico City GP, Lando Norris trailed the championship lead by 14 points.As the Briton won the Mexican GP, and his teammate only finished P5, Norris took the championship lead by 1 point. Max Verstappen finished on the podium, leaving his gap to the championship leader to only 36 points.F1 Grand Prix Of Mexico City 2025 - Source: Getty1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve came out after the Mexican GP and spoke about Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen’s form as he then went on to discuss the title chances of the three championship contenders.“Lando's on a roll. He should be able to carry this on. Piastri lost the lead of the championship, Max is a few points closer and Brazil next is a race Max loves. It's not the right time to have low form for Oscar. The drivers are tired, the season is long. When you have an issue like this earlier in the season, you are full of energy, you recover, you have the summer break. Now you don't”, said Jacques Villeneuve. (via Sky Sports)With four races remaining in the season, including 2 sprint race weekends, Max Verstappen needs to outscore Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri by an average of 9 points each weekend to win his fifth F1 title.“Drove like a World Champion”: Jacques Villeneuve hails Lando Norris' Mexican GP performance Lando Norris missed the FP1 session to give way to Pato O’Ward. Norris trailed Verstappen in the FP2 session. Going into FP3, the Briton came out as the fastest driver. While Oscar Piastri struggled in qualifying, Norris took the pole position with ease.The Briton got a great start off the line, got in the lead, and didn’t look back. Jacques Villeneuve spoke about the Briton’s performance at the Mexican GP, as he said,“He did not put one foot wrong all weekend. He showed strength that we normally see in Max. We saw it last year at times, it's just mid-season that was disappointing. He was barely on Piastri's level. Lando drove like a world champion or someone who wants to win a world championship.”The Brazilian GP is up next, which has been a happy hunting ground for Max Verstappen in the past.

Watch: Radio silence from Oscar Piastri after getting dominated by Lando Norris in the F1 Mexican GP qualifying
Technology

Watch: Radio silence from Oscar Piastri after getting dominated by Lando Norris in the F1 Mexican GP qualifying

F1 Championship leader Oscar Piastri qualified P8 at the 2025 Mexican GP as his teammate and title contender Lando Norris dominated the qualifying session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. There was radio silence from the Australian on the in-lap after the subpar qualifying effort.McLaren star Oscar Piastri has had a drop in form in the last few races, as he's failed to outscore Norris since the Italian GP. At the US GP, the Australian failed to qualify inside the Top 10 and was held at bay by Lewis Hamilton throughout the entirety of the race.Coming into the Mexico GP, Piastri had somewhat of an advantage as Lando Norris missed Q1 for Pato O'Ward as part of the rookie driver session. While Norris seemed a bit off pace from Max Verstappen during his sole practice session on Friday, the Briton topped the FP3 session, followed by a dominant qualifying session.Oscar Piastri didn't have pace throughout the qualifying session and struggled with the MCL39. The Australian was in the drop zone in the final moments of Q2 and just made it to Q3 by 0.071 seconds. In Q3, Piastri had no response to Norris' pace and only managed a lap time good enough for P8.During the in-lap, the race engineer informed the Australian about his qualifying and the starting position for Sunday's race, as well as instructions to kill the engine. There was no response from Oscar Piastri as he unplugged the radio communication and jumped out of the car.Lando Norris was comfortably the fastest driver in all three qualifying sessions. Although Charles Leclerc took the provisional pole after the first runs in, Norris responded with a lap time nearly three tenths faster than the Monegasque in the final run.“A frustrating session”: Oscar Piastri reacts to subpar qualifying session at the Mexican GPOscar Piastri trailed Lando Norris by over half a second in all the practice sessions at the Mexico GP, and the same was the case for the qualifying session. While Norris took the pole position with a lap time of 1:15.586, the Australian was nearly six tenths away.Reflecting on the qualifying session and detailing the frustrations, Piastri said, (via F1TV)“Yeah it was tough. I felt like some of my laps, when it counted, were not bad but, um yeah, just not the lap time I'm expecting. Some things we need to try and understand but obviously a frustrating session.”Piastri will start the race in P7 as Carlos Sainz is carrying a penalty from the US GP for causing a collision with Kimi Antonelli, which rendered the Williams driver over a five-spot grid drop.