Oscar Piastri urged to leave McLaren "if he doesn't win the championship"

Guenther Steiner has told Oscar Piastri that he either needs to regroup over the winter break and come back stronger in 2026, or leave McLaren.

Piastri is currently fighting for his first drivers' championship with his team-mate Lando Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. The Australian driver sits second, 24 points behind Norris and 25 points ahead of Verstappen, with three rounds remaining. 

Discussing the drivers' championship, former Haas team principal Steiner argued that if Piastri does not clinch the title this year, he will need to regroup over the winter break and come back stronger, or leave the Woking outfit.

“Especially if he doesn't win the championship, I think he has got a good chance to get in any other good car,” Steiner told The Red Flags Podcast.

“He’s a good driver and change sometimes is good. He's young enough, he can adapt to it. He should and I think he will. That's my opinion.”

He added: “He just needs to regroup over the winter and come back stronger than before. Otherwise, if he doesn’t come back stronger, I think the best for him is that he changes teams then. But he could come back because I still rate him highly.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Piastri needs to find a boost in performance for the final three rounds, as he has failed to secure a podium finish since the Italian Grand Prix. Adding pressure to Piastri is the charging Verstappen. Steiner argued that the Dutchman will likely overtake Piastri for second in the standings.

“Why not? He continues to do it. If you say Oscar is now destroyed mentally, then Max will be ahead of him, absolutely,” he added.

“Max is motivated, as we’ve seen in Brazil. He didn’t give up after a crappy qualifying. He rolled his sleeves up and made it better and finished on the podium.” 

The Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will kick off the final triple-header of the season, is set for 20-22 November.