Oscar Piastri says there is an explanation for why he struggled to keep pace in the two races before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and is confident McLaren are not sabotaging his title hopes.
Piastri suffered a difficult weekend for the second year in a row, but Lando Norris’ victory in Mexico City gave the British driver the lead of the championship for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in April. The sudden drop in form upset Piastri and led some in the fanbase to question whether he was being treated unfairly by McLaren, a notion the Australian dismissed.
“No, it’s not,” Mr. Piastri said. “I think the last few weekends have been a little bit more tricky, but we’ve got a pretty clear answer as to why it happened. There’s not a whole lot of mystery as to what happened. I think there are questions as to why there were some differences in terms of how you need to drive and so on, but everything is explainable. So definitely nothing like that (sabotage) has happened.”
- Where did Piastri’s pace go?
Piastri said he knew what he needed to adjust about his driving in recent weeks and felt pretty well prepared for the upcoming races, but when it comes to the overall title picture, he doesn’t believe McLaren needs to change its approach at all.
“I think we’ve always been very open with each other about what we think, whether we think things were fair, whether we think the right decisions were made,” Piastri said. “We can stand up for ourselves and I feel very comfortable doing so. And it’s very encouraging for the team to advocate for themselves as individuals.
“When you have two cars on the same team competing for a championship that only one car can win, I think it’s obviously a difficult dynamic to manage. Obviously there will be difficulties, of course, but I respect the team for allowing both cars to fight for the drivers’ championship.”
“For myself, I want to challenge for the championship and win the championship. I understand that I achieved it on my own and I did what was within my control. Of course, if I were to choose one driver, I wouldn’t be that driver 50% of the time. So I don’t think I need to change anything.”
Despite losing the championship lead he had held for so long, Piastri doesn’t think it will affect how he or Norris attack the weekend in Brazil.
“I don’t think it’s massive, especially when it’s essentially even,” he said. “For me, the mindset all year was to have the best weekend I could and try to go as fast as I could at the end. Throughout the weekend, I never really considered risk-taking approaches or anything like that more than I normally would. So even if the championship standings were a little different, I don’t think it would change anything for me.”
“I’m going to try to go as fast as I can and take the same risks I always do, because nine times out of 10 it’s a good balance.”
