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Oscar Piastri has revealed that his recent struggles are linked to driving style shifts demanded by the MCL38. The Australian believes that his team-mate, Lando Norris , has adapted better to the new requirements to get speed out of McLaren’s car, giving him the upper hand. After the Dutch Grand Prix in early September, Piastri was leading the World Championship by 34 points, but both Norris and Max Verstappen have since outscored him in each of the last five race weekends. In Mexico City, it was more of the same. He qualified eighth, was promoted to seventh due to Carlos Sainz’s grid penalty, and then suffered a poor opening lap, dropping him deep into the field. Piastri ultimately recovered to finish fifth, but watched on as Norris finished over 30 seconds clear of the field in first. The result is that Piastri now trails Norris in the World Championship standings by a solitary point heading into the final four races of the season. With two sprint races to go, there are plenty of points still on offer, but the Australian will need to rediscover his speed and confidence to strike back in the title fight. "The whole race, I was right behind someone and just struggling,” Piastri said after the chequered flag in Mexico. “So that was pretty difficult, but the biggest thing was learning the things that I wanted to learn today. “Yesterday, it was obvious after the session that there were a few things I needed to change in how I was driving, and today was about firstly trying to limit the damage, but also learning some things about that. If I made some progress with that, then I'll be happy, but when your team-mate wins the race, it's nothing that extravagant. "I've had to drive very differently the last couple of weekends, or not driven differently when I should have, and I think that's a little bit strange to get my head around. "I've been driving exactly the same as I have all year; it's just that over the last couple of weekends, the car or the tyres or something has required quite a different way of driving. And I've just not really done that. I tried a few things, which will be analysed, and we will hopefully see some progress. "The car has not changed for a while now, so it's nothing to do with the car. But, given how the pace has differentiated over the last couple of races, clearly Lando has found it a bit easier to dial into that, and I haven't. “I'll try to get on top of that. It's important for me to remember that, for the other 19 races, the way I've been driving has worked pretty well. It's all about adding some tools to the toolbox rather than reinventing myself."
