Oscar Piastri says his previous championship fighting experience in other categories will help him in the remainder of the season. Image: XPB Images
The McLaren driver endured a difficult weekend in Austin at the United States Grand Prix, crashing on the first lap of the sprint and finishing fifth in the grand prix for just 10 points. Meanwhile, Verstappen took maximum points in both races, cutting into Piastri’s lead.
After Austin, Piastri holds a slim 14-point advantage over Norris, with Verstappen 40 points further back. Over the last four races, Piastri has scored 37 points compared to 57 for Norris and 101 for Verstappen, underscoring his recent dip in form.
Despite the setbacks, Piastri is drawing confidence from his experience in tight championship battles earlier in his career as he hopes to become Australia’s first F1 world champion since Alan Jones in 1980.
“I’ve been in fights that were as close, or at this point, even closer than what they are now,” he said.
“So I’ve got the evidence for myself that things can still turn out well, and I still fully believe that I can win the championship.
“This weekend has obviously been tough, and the gap has come down a little bit in the last few weekends.
“But again, performance is what’s going to win you a championship, not just looking at points and seeing if you can increase or decrease it.
“The faster you go, the more points you’re going to score.”
Piastri’s confidence is reinforced by his success in junior categories. He narrowly won the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup over Victor Martins by 7.5 points and clinched the 2020 Formula 3 championship by just three points against Theo Pourchaire.
He says those experiences reassure him that he can recover from a rough patch and reclaim momentum.
The Australian also acknowledged that qualifying has been a particular challenge in recent rounds.
“I think just trying to understand if we’ve been maximising the car every weekend,” he explained.
“I think in race trim, we’ve still looked pretty good, but in qualifying trim, it’s been a little bit tougher for us the last few weekends, and this weekend, for whatever reason, you know, I’ve just not gelled with the car at all.
“So that’s the biggest thing and just the only thing you can do is analyse it and see what we can do better.”