Will he decide the F1 World Championship?A mysterious burger curse drags Oscar Piastri into the abyss
Strange things keep happening in Formula 1. Verstappen, a hunting dog from the Netherlands, wants to lure McLaren’s papaya duck into a trap. At the same time, the Australian burger chain condemned its favorite Piastri.
The old adage “Fried pigeon doesn’t fly into your mouth” will be given new meaning in Formula 1 in the final racing days of this spectacular 2025 season. Australia’s Oscar Piastri had just outpaced the rest of the field and won his first world title without missing a beat, but then, oh the horror!, it turned out: Formula 1 is not the land of milk and honey.
But first, look back. Ahead of last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, defending champion Max Verstappen went papaya duck hunting. With his tactics, the Dutch coach wants to follow the McLaren tradition Nederlands Kooikerhondje Lure them into a trap and snatch the world title from them.
In Brazil, despite a fierce push, he was only partially successful. As before in Mexico, another duck eluded him after failing in qualifying with Lando Norris. The Briton won, Verstappen barely missed the podium in third place. But Piastri was already following behind again. Dropped out of the sprint and only finished fifth in the race. Now 24 points behind Norris with three races remaining, he is almost behind, as is hunting dog Verstappen who is only behind by 49 points. Now it’s up to Brit Norris to lose the World Cup.
Podium for Piastri, it should be nothing more
As the Guardian reports, Piastri’s accident may have something to do with the curse. Without realizing it, the Australian burger chain pronounced it “Grill’d”. In order to achieve victory and hope to become the third Formula 1 world champion from Down Under, he promised a “Grill’d Piastri 81 Burger” for everyone and of course it was free. The only condition: a podium for Piastri.
It was the start of an unpleasant final third of the season. Nothing is what it seems. By this point, Piastri had been on the podium 14 times and the chain had stocked its warehouses with the best bread between Perth and Brisbane. Now he remains sitting on it. The Australian racer didn’t even make it to the podium. His lead in the World Championship soon turned into an increasing deficit.
This cursed burger has been on the menu since the Australian Grand Prix in March. After finishing third in Italy on September 7, the big action began. Piastri’s lead over Norris is still 31 points, despite the British driver’s controversial overtaking maneuver even at home.
He had gritted his teeth and submitted to the cage’s orders. If the beneficiary Norris wins his first world championship title, he will have to send a “cheque with a lot of zeros” to McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, wrote the British “Daily Mail” in the first days of September – and “Grill’d” begins with a burger campaign.
More power, less burger
After that everything went wrong. Piastri fell and went off the track and off the track at the World Championships. Fans on the Internet are desperate. “Stop it,” they wrote on the burger chain’s channel. They didn’t stop there, but changed their offer from “free burger after the podium” to “free burger if Piastri finishes”. In Brazil, the Australian racer did not finish the sprint race.
The burger chain had no choice but to finally apologize for everything. Maybe it’s too late. For those who believe in curses: We never wanted to make burgers so delicious that they could influence the course of Formula 1 history. But they might have.
Even though his manager, former F1 racer Mark Webber, doesn’t want to know anything about it. “He went through difficult times. This is now about character. About finding a very deep motivation within himself for these moments,” he said after the race in Brazil.
“You may believe that roast chickens, geese and pigeons can also fly everywhere. If you don’t catch them and are too lazy, they will fly into your mouth,” says Hans Sachs’ fairy tale about the land of milk and honey. “Grill’d” has proven that this is not the case with the burger curse. From now on it’s about performance again and not about burgers anymore.
