Oscar Piastri declares he can still win the championship
The team won the teams’ championship for the second year in a row, but has not won both championships in the same year since 1998.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown said that the team would prefer to lose the championship by one point rather than choosing one of its drivers against Red Bull pilot Verstappen.
Max Verstappen is approaching the leaders.Credit: Getty Images
Verstappen, who is chasing his fifth consecutive championship, is 36 points behind his pace, and while the McLaren duo are taking points from each other, they are closing the gap by closing the gap, which was 104 at the end of August.
The Dutchman’s return to contention is reminiscent of the 2007 season, won by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finished strongly and edged McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point.
“We are very aware of 2007,” Brown told Formula 1. Beyond the Grid podcast on Thursday. “But we have two drivers who want to win the world championship. We play offense, we don’t play defense.”
“I’d rather say ‘We did our best and our drivers tied on points and the other guy beat us by one’ rather than the alternative.
Piastri is interviewed by Sky’s David Croft at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.Credit: Getty Images
“This is now telling one of our drivers, when they’re one point away from each other: ‘I know you have a dream to win the world championship, but we’ve flipped a coin and you’re not going to do it this year.’ Forget it. That’s not how we go to the races.”
Norris’ defeat of Piastri in the last five races has sparked conspiracy theories.
Jos Verstappen, himself a former F1 racer, caused a stir by telling the Dutch media that Piastri should have defended himself.
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“I find what is happening at McLaren quite strange,” Verstappen told the Dutch newspaper. De Telegraaf. “Piastri couldn’t have suddenly forgotten how to drive, could he? If I were him or his manager [Mark Webber]I would hit the table with my fist inside at least once.
“Because right now everyone is wondering if he can handle the pressure, and that’s not good for your reputation. In this case, Piastri’s reputation.”
But Piastri told reporters that he was quite capable of expressing his opinion.
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“We are always very open with each other about what we think, whether things are fair, whether the right decisions are being made,” he said. “I respect the team for allowing us to both try and fight for the drivers’ championship.”
He also talked about the troubles he has been experiencing recently.Including a double DNF for McLaren in the sprint in Texas, could be translated.
“Austin and Mexico were two races that were different from the others. For whatever reason, there were some things that required very different driving, so I think those two are similar,” Piastri said.
“But I don’t think any race before this was bad or a disaster. There were some mistakes here and there, but it was important to learn from the last two weekends.”
Verstappen is effectively a one-man team at Red Bull; His points account for 321 of a total of 346 points from 20 races, and he doesn’t have to worry about Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda taking anything away from him.
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