Oscar Piastri has been waiting for his next podium for five races now—the Australian’s slump in form has even led to a change in the burger promotion.
Things just haven’t been going well for Oscar Piastri since Monza. Including his fifth place finish in the last race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver has now been waiting for a podium finish for five races in a row. It is precisely this fact that has prompted Australian burger chain Grill’d to change its advertising campaign featuring the current World Championship runner-up.
Originally, the promotion promised a free “bonus” burger every time Piastri finished on the podium. But after a slump in performance by the former championship leader, the promotion was changed.
Obviously, the burger chain doesn’t want to come across as stingy, but the new campaign is still not very hopeful or supportive: in future, the bonus burger will be available on the following Monday if Piastri competes in a race on Sunday – regardless of his finishing position.
The slump continues
Even though it was another disappointing weekend in Brazil, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen continues to gain ground after an impressive performance on Sunday.
The second half of the season is thus in stark contrast to the start of the year, when Piastri set the pace in the World Championship at will with numerous victories and regular podium finishes. Since the summer, however, the Australian seems to have lost his footing: a crash in Baku ended his long winning streak. In Mexico, there was then a changing of the guard at the top of the drivers’ championship.
“In terms of race pace, it was quite encouraging in the second and third phases of the race,” said team boss Andrea Stella after the race in Sao Paulo. “In the first third of the race, Oscar was still struggling with the consequences of braking too hard. He also thought the stint would last longer,” Stella continued. “But in the second and third phases, the performance was good. Talking to Oscar just now, he was able to implement some adjustments we had discussed for these low-grip conditions during the race.”
Is Piastri lacking support at home?
“We are drawing encouraging conclusions from this in terms of both performance and race pace. Now we are heading to tracks where tire behavior is expected to normalize. To be fair, we are going to Las Vegas first—I was already thinking about Qatar and Abu Dhabi, but Vegas first.”
“Vegas could once again show its peculiarities, as we have seen in the past with heavy tire wear,” the McLaren team boss continued. “Nevertheless, we were able to gain important insights in these three races, and that makes us optimistic for the last three races of the season.”
The promotion will run until mid-December 2025. With three race weekends remaining and 24 points behind his teammate Lando Norris, Piastri still has time to not only score a few podium finishes, but also potentially make a splash in the championship.
But whether Piastri wins the world championship, finishes on the podium, or simply rolls across the finish line in 15th place, the Australian burger lover couldn’t care less, because the bonus burger will be available as soon as the 24-year-old crosses the finish line. However, unwavering confidence in and widespread support for the local hero looks different.
