Oscar Piastri has rejected what he described as a “brief discussion” with McLaren about potentially helping Lando Norris secure the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship.
The Australian is now level on points with Max Verstappen in the standings after both he and Norris were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix for excessive plank wear.
Verstappen, who won the race, is now tied with Piastri on 366, with Norris just 24 points ahead with two rounds left, starting this weekend in Qatar.
A cornerstone of McLaren’s mentality this season has been its propensity to treat both Norris and Piastri equally, despite their own individual goals of winning the title for the first time.
But it appears that a conversation took place within the ranks of the Woking-based squad, floating the idea of Piastri now helping Norris see off the Dutchman’s threat.
However, Piastri dismissed the notion out of hand, telling media including Motorsport Week, ahead of the race in Losail that he believes he is still within a realistic chance of winning.
“We’ve had a very brief discussion on it, and the answer is no,” he said.
“I’m still equal on points with Max and I’ve got a decent shot of still winning it if things go my way, so yeah, that’s how we’ll play.”
Piastri admits F1 title is now ‘an outside shot’
Piastri, when asked if the mood in his camp has changed, was ready to admit his chances of taking the title were now much slimmer than they had been, but indicated he is not prepared to give up until it is mathematically impossible.
“I think there’s still a chance and it’s played out that way a couple of times before, so I know it’s not impossible,” he assessed.
“Obviously I also know that it’s a bit of an outside shot.
“Even if I have a perfect final two weekends, I can’t just rely on that. I need other things to go my way and I’m very aware of that.
“So I think for me I’m just going to try and have the best weekends I can, which I try and do every weekend, and see what happens to everyone else basically.”
With now three races – including Saturday’s Sprint – left, there are now three chances for Piastri to execute the best possible race to keep his chances up.
Asked if it now feels more critical than ever, Piastri replied that his mentality has not changed; aiming to go out and win every time has always been his objective.
“Not necessarily, no,” he said. “I mean I think every weekend you try to get the best result you can and whether that’s round one or round 23, that’s the same mentality.
“So obviously yes I know what the state of play is in terms of the championship picture, but ultimately the best way of keeping my hopes in as good a shape as I can is trying to go out and win and get the best results I can.”
2023’s Sprint in Losail was the scene of Piastri’s first-ever win in F1, holding off Verstappen in the process. And history is giving him a buoyant feeling of sorts, knowing he has the nous of the circuit to challenge.
“Yeah, confident I would say,” he said. “I think it’s a circuit that I’ve enjoyed, so I’ve done well in the past. I think Vegas was looking reasonable from a pace point of view, just qualifying the end of Q3 didn’t go how I wanted and then the race, yeah obviously the race was what it was and a few mistakes in there, but I think the pace when I had clean air to be able to use my pace was pretty good.
“I think we’ve already found a lot of improvements in those kind of conditions, but obviously here is a much different circuit, much higher speed, very grippy tarmac, pretty consistent, maybe some wind around, but pretty consistent temperatures at least, so yeah hopefully it could be a good weekend.”
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