Australia has ignored the brutal truth that Oscar Piastri has no one but himself to blame for letting the championship slip

On Monday morning, Oscar Piastri fell 13 points short of breaking a 45-year Aussie world title drought.

He led the championship for much of the season, having taken it with victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in April. He lost it six months later in Mexico in late October - having led it by as many as 34 points following the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August - and that was the end of that.

There has been much ado about British favouritism and bias and how McLaren had been de-tuning Oscar's car at the back end of the year to give Lando Norris the championship.

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And say what you want about Papaya rules, favouritism, or whatever. Piastri, to put it bluntly, choked when the title was his for the taking. Piastri lost about 40 points in moments entirely of his own making.

At the first race of the season in Melbourne, as rain lashed the circuit, he spun off and lost the better part of a lap trying to recover. He finished ninth and scored two points. If that was second, he'd have scored 18. There's 16 points.

At Silverstone, he was penalised for erratic driving while leading the race at a safety car restart. He finished second when he should have won. There's another seven.

In Azerbaijan, a track in which he really announced himself to the F1 world with a stunning victory only 12 months earlier, he crashed twice - once in qualifying and then on the opening lap. He was starting from 10th, and had already botched the start. Let's say he would have fought back to finish sixth. That's eight points, but could have easily been more or less.

He crashed again in the sprint race in Brazil. He was running third, there's six points.

By that calculation he should have had an additional 37 points, give or take. The brutal truth is Piastri lost the championship through his mistakes.

There were other moments that defined the championship battle. In Japan, McLaren opted against instructing Norris to let Piastri through to attempt an attack on Max Verstappen. Last week in Qatar, a botched strategy call cost Piastri what would have been an almost certain victory at a race weekend he had dominated. In Las Vegas, both McLarens were disqualified for technical infringements.

And who could forget Italy, when he was instructed to let Norris back through after a slow pit stop put the Aussie in front.

It cost Piastri another three points. Norris won the championship by two.

He may not have known it at the time, but Piastri had the chance to win the title himself. He didn't.

But then, F1 is full of what-ifs. If Verstappen didn't have a brain fart in Barcelona and drive George Russell off the road, he would have been champion, too.

If Norris didn't have that oil leak at Zandvoort, or drive up Piastri's clacker in Canada, he would have wrapped up the title a week ago in Qatar, maybe earlier.

We have to remind ourselves Piastri had only two full-time seasons in Formula 1 going into this season, which he knew could be his best shot at a championship. He is still green.

But next year, the sport launches into a new era of technical regulations. The aerodynamics and power units on the cars will be all-new. The pecking order for next season is a complete mystery. Was this his only chance at a world title?

We'll start to get a sense of the new world order in 90 days when the lights go out to commence another F1 season at Melbourne's Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix.