Oscar Piastri says he and Lando Norris are able to “stand up for themselves” at McLaren after Jos Verstappen questioned whether the Australian driver needed to be more proactive within the team.
Piastri’s six-month reign at the top of the F1 Drivers’ Championship was halted by teammate Norris in the final race in Mexico City, with the Briton leading the standings by one point with four races remaining.
Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen remains a threat to both McLaren drivers. The reigning champion is 36 points behind Norris.
After winning the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, Piastri was thought to be the heavy favorite for the title, opening up a 34-point lead over Norris and 104 points over Verstappen. However, he has been passed by both drivers in each of the past five races.
Ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Max’s father Jos Verstappen addressed Piastri’s decline in form in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Verstappen Snr suggested he could “bump his fist on the table internally” if he were Piastri or Australia coach and former driver Mark Webber, amid outside questions about whether Piastri was coping with the pressures of competing for the title.
These comments were made to Piastri at Thursday’s media day at Interlagos, where the Australian was asked whether he could assert himself within the team within the “papaya rule” set by McLaren to ensure equality on track.
“For me, I think we’ve always been very open about what we think with each other,” Piastri said.
“Whether you think things were fair, whether you think the right decisions were made, and from that side of things, we can stand up for ourselves, and I feel very comfortable doing that, and it’s very encouraged by the team individually to kind of make their case.”
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David Croft believes McLaren will not ruin the “harmonious” relationship between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri amid rumors the team is “favoring” drivers.
Piastri, who promised the team would continue its even-handed approach to the drivers’ championship, added: “I think when you have two cars from the same team fighting for a championship that only one car can win, that’s obviously a difficult dynamic to manage. It’s obviously going to be understandably difficult.”
“However, I respect the team and they have allowed us both to challenge for the drivers’ championship.
“I want to go into the championship knowing that I won the championship by thinking for myself and doing what I could in my power and within my control.
“And obviously, if you pick one driver, there’s a 50 percent chance it won’t be that driver. So for me, I don’t think we need to change anything because we’re already very encouraged and welcomed to stand up for ourselves.”
‘Everything is explainable’ – Piastri remains steadfast in his belief that he can win the title
The 24-year-old Piastri was a model of consistency through the first 16 races of the season, finishing on the podium in all but two of them and leading the more experienced Norris in both the championship and head-to-head with his qualifying/race teammates.
Since then, however, the improved Norris has generally held the upper hand, with the Briton’s advantage proving particularly pronounced in the past two races.
In Austin, Norris finished second behind Verstappen and Piastri fifth, before completely dominating in Mexico en route to a 30-second victory, with Piastri finishing fifth again a further 12 seconds behind.
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Lando Norris admits his recent form, which has seen him closing the gap in the title race with Oscar Piastri, is the result of a combination of things.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested that the poor grip of the final two circuits played a key role in Piastri’s struggles, causing the driver to work on ways to change his driving style to generate more pace from the car.
Two weeks later, Piastri once again flatly denied the wild conspiracy theories on social media, saying: “There’s not a lot of mystery as to what happened. I think there are questions about why some differences occurred in terms of driving requirements and so on.”
“But everything is explainable, so definitely nothing like that happened.”
And despite his recent struggles, Piastri, who is aiming to become Australia’s third and fifth youngest F1 world champion in the sport, is adamant he can still bounce back and win the crown.
“People can think what they want to think, but for me I know I still have what it takes to win a championship,” he said.
“Yes, there have been challenges along the road, but this year there have been challenges in different places on the road for everyone.
“I’m confident that I’ve learned a lot of useful things, especially over the last few weekends, and I’m confident that I can still perform at the same level as my success this year. There are still a lot of laps left this year, but I’m very confident that I can still win.”
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Highlights of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Norris is back at the top of the rankings for the first time since April, putting him back in the bookmarkers’ favorite to win the title, but the Englishman is not carried away by his form in Mexico.
Asked if the nature of the win gave him confidence, Norris said:
“I can’t say I wasn’t confident before. I already had a good feeling in Austin and Singapore. It’s safe to say things have gotten a little bit better in the last two races. It’s a little bit encouraging, but I wouldn’t say much has changed.”
Norris added: “Obviously I would love to have another weekend like Mexico, but it will be difficult because of the good competition.
“But I would like to say that I’m hoping to be strong and have another good weekend. But you never know. With the weather and conditions here, it’s easy for anyone to go their way.”
‘For me there’s no pressure’ says Verstappen ‘It’s amazing’, still adjusting
The three-way world title chase resumes on Friday with a sprint weekend at Interlagos. Interlagos is a venue long associated with late-season drama and unpredictability.
Although Verstappen remains mathematically an outsider in the race against the McLaren drivers, he believes it is “already remarkable” that there is still talk of the 2025 crown.
And, in perhaps a further sign of the battle of wits between the camps as the season approaches its decisive final week, Verstappen said: “For me, there’s no pressure.
“So even if I don’t win, I know I’ve had a really good season and I’m happy to say that trying to recreate what I’ve done with the people on the grid will be very difficult.
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Max Verstappen says the team will do everything in its power to challenge for the title race as the Red Bull driver trails Lando Norris by 36 points
“So we have to be realistic about the chances we had throughout the season. I think the fact that we’re still talking about being in this fight is already remarkable in the first place.”
“And certainly, it has to do with the team’s turnaround. They never gave up, and that’s the strength of the team. But despite that, I think it’s pretty impressive that we were down by over 100 points at one point and still talked about going into this battle.”
Verstappen also said the fact that McLaren had both drivers involved in the battle could be a “distraction” for the Woking team, but suggested he would rather find himself in such a scenario if he were driving the fastest car.
“Of course we have a chance to win, so we’re going to go for it and make sure we give it our all. Maybe there’s a little bit of distraction between the two drivers at McLaren, but at the same time they still have a very fast car.”
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Martin Brundle talks about the F1 championship favorites.
“So, if you tell me what you want, just blow your mind. I don’t care anyway, if you give me the fastest car, I’ll drive as fast as I need to. So, yeah, that might be good for me, but at the same time, we need to make sure we have the faster car. We need to stay ahead of them. It’s that simple.”
The Mexican race was the first time in five races that Verstappen had finished behind a McLaren driver, and he said of the current title difference: “It’s 36 points, but it’s still a big difference.
“I think we’ve done a very good job as a team in the last few races, but of course if we want to close the gap even further we need to always be in front and that’s going to be a big challenge.
“But we’ll see. I’m excited to be here and I hope it’s a good weekend for us.”
Sky Sports F1 Sao Paulo GP Schedule
Friday, November 7th
2:00pm: São Paulo GP Practice (Session starts at 2:30pm)*
4:30pm: Team representative press conference
6pm: São Paulo GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 6:30pm)*
Saturday, November 8th
1pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint Build-up
2pm: São Paulo GP Sprint*
3:30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
5pm: Sao Paulo GP qualifying build-up
6pm: Sao Paulo GP Qualifying
8pm: Ted’s Qualification Notebook
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A look back at some of the most dramatic moments that happened at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Sunday, November 9th
3:30pm: Sunday’s Grand Prix: Sao Paulo GP Build-up
5pm: Sao Paulo Grand Prix
7pm: Checkered flag: São Paulo GP reaction
8pm: Ted’s Notes
*Also held at Sky Sports Main Event
F1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil, with the São Paulo Grand Prix sprint weekend being broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 from this Friday. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
