Copyright independent
Oscar Piastri recognises that he needs to change things up if he wants to get his F1 title charge back on track. The Mexico Grand Prix marked the Australian’s fourth race on the bounce off the podium, seeing McLaren teammate Lando Norris win and leapfrog him in the drivers’ standings after six months at the top of the table. Piastri, who has seven wins to his name this season, has suffered an untimely drop in form with only four races to go, with pressure heightened by the resurgence of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The 24-year-old holds his hands up that he has failed to change when needed to in recent weeks and plans to make amends as the campaign enters its climax. When asked if he’s lost any confidence in his driving ability, he told Sky Sports: “No, I’ve just had to drive very differently the last couple of weekends - or I’ve not driven differently when I should have. “I think that’s been a little bit strange to get my head around because I’ve been driving exactly the same as I have all year. It’s just that these 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 gone to that. “I tried a few things (in Mexico), trying to change things up a bit today and once we analyse if it’s effective or not, that’ll hopefully help see some progress.” Piastri, who had started the race in seventh place and 14 points clear of Briton Norris, finished fifth after a frustrating race. Verstappen kept things alive in what has developed into a three way title race, producing a remarkable recovery performance to finish behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third. Piastri is only a point behind Norris in the drivers’ standings but will need to make sure he bucks the trend of recent outings to prevent that gap from increasing. “The car’s obviously not changed for a while now so it’s nothing to do with the car,” he added. “I think potentially given how the pace has differentiated for the last couple of races, clearly Lando has found it a bit easier to dial into that and I haven’t. “So plenty of analysis (needed) to try and get further on top of that, but I think it’s important to remember for the other 19 races, the way I’ve been driving has been working pretty well. It’s more about adding some tools the toolbox rather than reinventing myself.”
