McLaren expects Oscar Piastri to regain form in the final three races of the F1 championship, despite the Australian trailing teammate Lando Norris on the drivers’ standings.
Norris, who won the two most recent races in Brazil and Mexico, leads the championship on 390 points ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Piastri is 24 points behind his McLaren stablemate, having led the standings earlier this season.
The Melburnian has failed to reach the podium in his past five races, prompting ex-world champion Damon Hill to suggest the 24-year-old is struggling.Â
“Oscar suddenly looks a bit forlorn, a bit under pressure,” Hill recently said.
But McLaren chief executive Zak Brown defended Piastri in the build-up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
“Oscar’s definitely fighting back,” Brown said.
“I think one of his greatest strengths is he just gets in the zone.”
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But Brown also expressed confidence in Great Britain’s Norris, who is chasing his first championship.
“I’ve never seen Lando in a better place,” Brown said.
The championship could be a two-driver duel between the McLaren pair by the conclusion of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Defending champion Max Verstappen cannot afford to lose ground on the drivers’ standings, as he trails Norris by 49 points in third place.
McLaren has already clinched the constructors’ championship, leaving Brown excited about the prospect of claiming both titles in the same season for the first time this century.
“I’d love to be in a position where we leave this race and I know a papaya [McLaren] car is going to be the drivers’ champion,” Brown said.
“Last weekend in Brazil was great, because Lando extended his lead, but the glass-half-empty side is … it got closer between Max and Oscar.
“What we really want to do is not just win the drivers’ championship. We want to finish first and second.”
AAP/Reuters