Oscar Piastri has spoken on the social media saga that has thrust McLaren conspiracy theories back into the spotlight in Las Vegas.

The main race begins at 3pm AEDT on Sunday with Lando Norris starting on pole, while Piastri will start from the third row, in fifth, and will need to produce an excellent drive to make up ground in the title race.

Norris leads by 24 points, having overtaken the Australian with victories in the last two races.

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Piastri’s drop off in form has led to accusations of favouritism by McLaren – fuelled by Piastri being ordered to swap places with Norris after a slow pit stop at Monza, and the Brit not facing any consequences for taking out the Australian in Singapore.

Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone recently said that “McLaren prefers the English driver Norris” due to his “star quality” and “camera presence”.

A social media storm then erupted when Piastri’s account reposted a graphic of Ecclestone’s comments.

It was deleted shortly after, and when asked in Vegas about it, Piastri said “I don’t know” when asked how it happened.

“I woke up this morning and saw it, so I don’t know, maybe I accidentally did it,” he said.

“Obviously, it was not intentional. But yeah, I didn’t know what had happened. So I don’t know.”

Davidson stunned by Piastri incident | 03:20

GRID

1. Lando Norris – McLaren

2. Max Verstappen – Red Bull

3. Carlos Sainz – Williams

4. George Russell – Mercedes

5. Oscar Piastri – McLaren

6. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls

7. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin

8. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls

9. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari

10. Pierre Gasly – Alpine

11. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber

12. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin

13. Esteban Ocon – Haas

14. Oliver Bearman – Haas

15. Franco Colapinto – Alpine

16. Alexander Albon – Williams

17. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes

18. Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber

19. Yuku Tsunoda – Red Bull

20. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari

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