Nature abhors a vacuum, so naturally Oscar Piastri's recent lack of pace compared with McLaren team-mate Lando Norris – stretching to a remarkable 0.588s in final qualifying for the Mexico City GP – has prompted fevered speculation.
Since the human brain is hard-wired towards pattern recognition, many theories centre around a problem with the car – either as a result of damage incurred during the campaign, most recently in the sprint round in Austin, or because McLaren is deliberately ‘nobbling' Piastri to favour Norris. Ridiculous as the latter proposition is, the problem with conspiracy theories – no matter how improbable or even unhinged – is that they are inherently self-validating.
