Oscar Piastri says he and Lando Norris are able to “stand up for ourselves” at McLaren after Jos Verstappen questioned whether the Australian driver needed to become more assertive inside the team.
Piastri’s sixth-month stay at the top of F1’s Drivers’ Championship was ended by team-mate Norris at the last race in Mexico City, with the Briton now leading the standings by a single point with four rounds to go.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, meanwhile, remains a threat to both McLaren drivers; the reigning champion sitting 36 points behind Norris.
Piastri had appeared the big favourite for the title after opening up a lead of 34 points over Norris and 104 points over Verstappen after winning the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August. However, he has been outscored by both drivers in each of the last five races.
Ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Jos Verstappen, Max’s father, weighed in on Piastri’s loss of form in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Verstappen Snr suggested that if he was Piastri or the Australian’s manager, former driver Mark Webber, he could “bang my fist on the table internally” amid external questions about whether Piastri was handling the pressure of the title race.
Those comments were put to Piastri on Thursday’s media day at Interlagos, with the Australian asked if he was able to stand up for himself inside the team amid McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ which are in place to ensure equality on track.
“I think for me, we’re always very open with each other in terms of what we think,” said Piastri.
“Whether we think things have been fair, whether we think the right decisions have been made, and from that side of things, we can stand up for ourselves, and I feel very comfortable doing that and that’s very much encouraged by the team to kind of make our point for ourselves individually.”
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David Croft believes McLaren will not ruin a ‘harmonious’ relationship between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri amid rumours the team were ‘favouriting’ a driver
Piastri, whose team have promised to continue their even-handed approach to the Drivers’ Championship even if it risked Verstappen pipping either of their drivers to the crown, added: “I think it’s obviously a difficult dynamic to manage when you’ve got the two cars in the same team fighting for a championship that only one car can win, that’s there’s obviously, naturally going to be difficulties with that.
“But, I respect the team, allowing us to both try and fight for the Drivers’ Championship.
“I think for myself, I want to go out there and try and win the championship knowing that I did it on my own merit and doing the things that I could do in my control.
“And obviously, if you pick one driver, you’ve got a 50 per cent chance that you’re not going to be that driver. So I think for me, we’re very much encouraged and welcomed to stand up for ourselves already, so I don’t think anything needs to change.”
‘Everything is explainable’ – Piastri unshaken in belief he can win title
The 24-year-old Piastri was a model of consistency through the season’s first 16 races, finishing on the podium in all-but two of them to lead the more-experienced Norris in both the championship and their qualifying/race team-mate head-to-heads.
However, an improved Norris has generally held the upper hand since then, with the Briton’s advantage proving especially pronounced at the last two races.
Norris finished second to Verstappen in Austin, with Piastri fifth, and then absolutely dominated in Mexico on the way to a 30-second victory, with Piastri finishing a further 12 seconds back in fifth place again.
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Lando Norris admits his recent run of form, which has seen him close the title race gap to Oscar Piastri, is down to a combinations of a few things
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has suggested that the low-grip nature of the last two circuits played a key role in Piastri’s struggles and led to the driver working on ways to alter his driving style to generate more pace from his car.
Two weeks on and Piastri, again flatly rejecting wild conspiracy theories on social media, said: “There’s not really too many mysteries on what’s happened. I think there’s questions on why some differences have cropped up in terms of how I need to drive and stuff like that.
“But, everything is explainable, so there’s definitely none of that going on.”
And despite his recent difficult run, Piastri – aiming to become just Australia’s third F1 world champion and the sport’s fifth youngest – is adamant he can still bounce back and claim the crown.
“People can think what they want to think but for me I know that I’ve still got what it takes to win the championship,” he said.
“Yeah, there have been bumps along the road but there have been bumps on the road for everyone this year at different points.
“I’m confident that I’ve learnt a lot of helpful things from the last couple of weekends in particular and I’m confident I can still perform at some of the heights of the success we’ve had this year. A lot of laps to go this year and I’m very confident I can still win.”
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Highlights of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Norris’ return to the top of the standings for the first time since April has also seen him restored as the bookmarkers’ favourite for the title, although the Briton is not getting carried away by his form in Mexico.
Asked if the nature of that win provided a confidence boost, Norris replied: “It helps. It’s nice to win. It’s always a good thing.
“I wouldn’t say I was lacking confidence before, I felt good in Austin already and Singapore – I would definitely say things got a little bit better in the final two races. It boosts you a little bit but I wouldn’t say it changes that much.”
Norris added: “Of course, I hope to have another weekend like Mexico, which will be tricky just because it’s good competition.
“But I would say I expect also to be strong and have another good weekend. But you never know – with the weather and the conditions here it’s easy to go anyone’s way.”
‘For me there’s no pressure’ – Verstappen says it’s ‘remarkable’ he’s still in mix
The three-way world title chase resumes from Friday with a Sprint weekend at Interlagos, a venue that is long associated with producing drama and unpredictability late in the season.
Verstappen remains the mathematical outsider in the race against the McLaren drivers but believes it is “already remarkable” that he is even still in the conversation for 2025’s crown.
And, in perhaps a further sign of mind games between the camps as the season reaches its decisive concluding weeks, Verstappen said: “For me, there’s no pressure.
“I mean, even if I don’t win it, I still know that I drove a really good season and I can happily say that to try and replicate the season that I’ve done with people on the grid, I think it will be very tough.
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Max Verstappen says the team will try do everything they can to challenge the title race, as the Red Bull driver sits 36 points behind Lando Norris
“So you just need to be realistic in the chances that we had throughout the season. To still be talking about being in this fight, I think, is already remarkable in the first place.
“And yeah, for sure, it has to do with the turnaround of the team. They never gave up, and that’s the strength of the team. But nevertheless, I think at one point when you’re over 100 points behind and then still we’re talking about being In this fight, I think is very impressive.”
Verstappen also said the fact McLaren have both their drivers in the fight could prove a “distraction” for the Woking team, although suggested he would rather face such a scenario himself if he was driving the fastest car.
“There is an opportunity, of course, that we can win it, so we are going for it and all in for sure. The distraction, maybe it’s a little bit there at McLaren between the two drivers, but at the same time, they still have a very fast car.
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Martin Brundle discusses the Formula 1 championship favourites.
“So if you would tell me what I would like to have, give me the distraction. I don’t care anyway, you know, you just give me the fastest car and I’ll drive it as fast as it needs to be. So, yeah, it’s it can be nice for me, but at the same time, we just need to make sure that we have a faster car. We need to be ahead of them. It’s as simple as that.”
Mexico was the first time that Verstappen had finished behind either McLaren driver in five races and said of his current title deficit: “It’s 36 points, it’s still a decent gap.
“I think over the last few rounds we have done a very good job as a team but, of course, if we want to close that down further we need to be ahead constantly now and that will be a big challenge.
“But we will see. I’m just excited to be here and hopefully it will be a good weekend for us.”
Sky Sports F1’s Sao Paulo GP Schedule
Friday November 7
2pm: Sao Paulo GP Practice (session starts at 2.30pm)*
4.30pm: Team Principals’ Press Conference
6pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 6.30pm)*
Saturday November 8
1pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint build-up
2pm: SAO PAULO GP SPRINT*
3.30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
5pm: Sao Paulo GP Qualifying build-up
6pm: SAO PAULO GP QUALIFYING
8pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments to have taken place at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Sunday November 9
3.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Sao Paulo GP build-up
5pm: THE SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX
7pm: Chequered Flag: Sao Paulo GP reaction
8pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
