After his unfortunate accident in the Brazil sprint, Oscar Piastri is not giving up: the McLaren driver still believes he can crown the season with his first World Championship success.
Oscar Piastri’s run of bad luck continues at the Brazilian Grand Prix: After his unfortunate accident in the sprint, he is now nine points behind his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. However, the Australian is far from giving up on the World Championship battle.
“I still believe that I can win races and take the championship, but of course things aren’t coming as easily as I would like at the moment,” Piastri admitted after a disappointing Saturday in Sao Paulo.
Nevertheless, Piastri is convinced that the problems with his driving style that he experienced in Austin and Mexico have now been overcome. And although the weekend in Brazil presented him with new challenges, he still believes he can catch up with and beat his teammate in the final races of the year.
Problems from Austin and Mexico have been solved
“I think there were definitely some things to learn in Austin and Mexico, as well as things that I didn’t feel comfortable with naturally and had to adapt to,” said Piastri, who only secured fourth place on the grid in qualifying, while Norris is once again on pole.
But: “This weekend, especially yesterday, everything felt much more normal,” the Australian sums up his initial assessment. “I felt comfortable right from the first lap of practice, and the lap times came easily.” In qualifying, however, he was still 0.375 seconds off Norris’ best time.
“Today was a little more difficult in terms of conditions and just getting the most out of everything, but I don’t think there were the same issues this weekend.” The McLaren driver is convinced that he has put the difficulties of recent races behind him.
Accident in the sprint was “a bit unfortunate”
The accident in the sprint was simply unfortunate. “I used [the kerb] a little bit on the lap before and had no problems with it,” reports the 24-year-old. “Looking back, a few drivers in front of me also used it and possibly brought a little more water to the spot where I ended up.”
This includes his teammate Lando Norris. “The track was in a different condition than in the lap before, and obviously I wasn’t the only one who got caught out,” Piastri recalls, pointing out that Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine) also crashed at the same spot.
Nevertheless, the McLaren driver admits that he has to take responsibility for his own actions. “I probably shouldn’t have been on the kerb,” Piastri admits after his zero points on Saturday. “But it’s a bit unfortunate that the consequences were so serious.”
