‘The real Oscar hasn’t disappeared’ – Piastri adamant he’s ‘still got what it takes’ to win title after tricky run of races

Oscar Piastri remains “very confident” that he can beat McLaren team mate Lando Norris and Red Bull rival Max Verstappen to the 2025 Drivers’ Championship title, despite losing his long-standing lead last time out.

Piastri fell a point behind Norris following the Mexico City Grand Prix amid a challenging sequence of races, which included a first-lap crash in Azerbaijan and three successive weekends running in the Briton’s shadow.

As the paddock reconvened in Brazil, with Verstappen also closing in on the McLaren pair, Piastri fielded questions over his recent form and comments he made about having to drive the MCL39 differently than earlier in the season.

Asked if there has been any progress on the latter point, Piastri said: “It’s difficult to know. It’s not really been a change in the car that’s been something to get our heads around. The car has not really changed in terms of new parts or set-ups for a few months now.

“I think we’ve got a much better understanding of what differences there were in the last couple of weekends and what I needed to change, what I needed to adapt. I think I’ve got a much better idea of what I’m looking for now.

“There’s always the question of whether I’ll need to use that or not, but I think I’m much more confident that I’ve got those tools available to me rather than relying on what’s worked for the majority of the season.”

Pushed on “the real Oscar” coming to the fore at Interlagos, Piastri hit back: “I don’t think the real Oscar has disappeared… I think it’s just been a tough couple of weekends [with] some lessons to learn along the way.

“I feel like the last couple of weekends I’ve been happy in myself that I’ve tried to execute the best of what I’ve been able to do, and ultimately just trying to raise the performance has been the biggest thing.

“I think in terms of the championship picture it doesn’t change a lot. Ultimately I go into every weekend trying to get the most out of myself and most out of the car that I can, and that doesn’t change whether I’m leading the championship or not. I’ll try my best to do that and the points will be what they will be.”

As various pundits and onlookers comment on who is now the title favourite out of Norris, Piastri and Verstappen, the Australian insisted that he has no doubts over his ability to get the job done.

“People can think what they want to think,” he commented. “For me I know that I’ve still got what it takes to win the championship. Yeah, there have been some 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 as well that I can still perform at some of the heights of the success we’ve had this year. There are still a lot of laps to go this year and I’m very confident I can still win.”