334 days: What is behind Oscar Piastri's winless F1 run?

The end of August will mark a whole year since Oscar Piastri registered a win in Formula One and the Australian insists he is more than aware of the noise around McLaren’s underpar performance so fa this season.

Piastri registered seven Grands Prix victories in 2025; this year he has more DNF/DNS to his name than podium finishes and not a single race win. It's been a long 334 days.

Twelve months goes fast in sport; Piastri has gone from leading the world championship by a significant margin to sitting seventh and 127 points off leader Kimi Antonelli.

His McLaren teammate and defending world champion Lando Norris is not faring much better with one race win and a hat-trick of podiums and DNF/DNS this year.

So what is going on at the papaya?

"We're very conscious and aware of where we sit,” Piastri said shortly before F1 went on it’s mandatory summer break. “We're under no illusions that we're lacking some performance, and we really want to chase it.

“We've got good ideas on how we can do it. And I think everybody's hungry to get back to where we have been and taste that success again."

Tumultuous first halves of a season are no stranger to McLaren and they have a decent track record of turning things around.

When Piastri ousted Daniel Ricciardo mid-season 2023, McLaren were loitering at the back of the grid on a regular basis. Within a year they won the constructors title for the first time since 1998.

"The past seasons do give me confidence,” Piastri continued. “When you look at the previous experience of what we've been able to achieve as a team, and how we've been able to make progress through the year, it's good.

"In 2023, we were in a much worse position than where we are now, and we were able to really jump up the order to fight for podiums.

“The way me and Lando worked together then to try and focus on making the car quick so we could then fight for the results that we wanted hasn't changed. It's still strong, productive conversations together with the team all pushing for the same goal.

"I feel like for me I've already seen it play out more than once. I think that's a real strength of the team. Yes, things are different, the cars are different, maybe the way we will make that step will look different. But we've made that step before, and I'm confident we can do it again,"

F1 could 'race in the snow' as war threatens two Grands Prix

The Formula One season could be forced to finish up in Europe amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

F1 boss Stefano Domenicali said he was not afraid to make big decisions if the ongoing war – which has already forced the cancellation of two races this season - does not come to an end.

As has become tradition, the current season is scheduled to finish with races in Qatar on Nov 29 and Abu Dhabi on Dec 6, but both Grands Prix are becoming increasingly unlikely to go ahead.

Malaysia has already been added to the calendar for the weekend of October 4 to make up for the cancelled Saudi Arabia and Bahrain races. Now Imola in Italy could be an option for the season end.

A decision will be made at the start of September.

"They are already sold out," Domenicali said about the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races. "That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problem that our world is living through.

"But of course, if the situation will not be clearer the way that we believe it should be before middle of September, we will take the decision. And on that respect, I just want to confirm to you that if this will not be possible, the end of the season will be in Europe, because we cannot go in other places. So the end eventually will be in Europe."

Italy in late November or December could present significant weather issues for F1, but Domenicali said he was upbeat about the solution.

"The only possibility is to finish in Europe," he said. "I'm hoping that there will be no snow ...Pirelli will not be ready to have the winter snow (tyres)... But now, seriously, I think that the weather should allow us to race in Europe even at the beginning of December.

"The fascinating side is that if I look at the statistics of the temperature in Europe in that time, it's less cool than Las Vegas average temperature while we are racing. So no one knows what the temperature will be and what the weather will be like."

F1 is currently on its "summer" break with racing to resume in Holland at the end of August.