Oscar Piastri has suggested there are \u2018other factors\u2019 at play in his inability to get on top of his McLaren MCL39.<\/p>\n
Piastri led the Drivers\u2019 Championship by 34 points following the Dutch Grand Prix, but now trailed teammate Lando Norris by 24 points with three races remaining.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri admits \u2018something has been a bit odd\u2019 in recent races<\/p>\n
Piastri won the Dutch GP as F1 returned from its mid-season break, a race from which Norris retired with an oil line issue.<\/p>\n
However, the Australian has not climbed onto the podium since, while his teammate has won the last two races.<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s recent run of form comes in stark contrast to that experienced earlier in the year, when he dominated in China and won five times in eight races.<\/p>\n
The spark looked to have returned in Brazil, when the former championship-leader all but matched Norris in the sole hour of practice, only to crash out of the Sprint and pick up a penalty while fighting for second in the grand prix itself.<\/p>\n
But even then, Norris had the edge when it came to outright pace both in qualifying and the race as he extended his lead in the title fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI the last weekends in particular, are a similar trend,\u201d Piastri observed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustin, I had to drive very, very differently. Mexico the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of one thing adapting to different conditions, but when the way you\u2019ve driven for the whole season has worked so well, it\u2019s kind of difficult to go away from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of learning on that side of things and trying to adapt to different things,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Brazil], practice was really, really strong. I felt like I couldn\u2019t go slow in practice, pretty much. And then, through the rest of the weekend, things just went away from us a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris has benefited from a revised front suspension on the McLaren.<\/p>\n
Introduced in Canada, the tweak is aimed at changing the feel across the front axle.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a solution Piastri tried, but elected not to adopt, reasoning that rather than being an outright upgrade, it was simply an option.<\/p>\n
While there was low grip in Mexico and Austin, a different tyre conundrum was revealed in Interlagos.<\/p>\n
More on Oscar Piastri<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc49 Oscar Piastri told what he must do to get back to the level of Lando Norris as title bid fades<\/a><\/p>\n