McLaren decides on Piastri's role in title battle amid Verstappen threat

13:10, 27 Nov

Updated: 13:17, 27 Nov

byKada Sarkozi

Oscar Piastri will not help Lando Norris secure his title against Max Verstappen this weekend, the Australian explained in Qatar.

"We've had a very brief discussion on it, and the answer is no."

- Oscar Piastri

Entering the Qatar Grand Prix, Piastri, like Max Verstappen, trails his teammate by 24 points in the drivers' standings after the two McLaren drivers were disqualified in Las Vegas.

The McLaren driver said he will not help Norris towards securing his first title this weekend.

He told GPblog: "We've had a very brief discussion on it, and the answer is no. Still equal on points with Max and got a decent shot of still winning it if things go my way, so yeah, that's how we'll play."

Reviewing the team's disqualification, which brought him closer to Norris, he said: "Ultimately it's never a good thing, having the result we had. Yes, obviously, it prevents me losing those six points to Lando. It also brings Max much closer into the fight.

"So I think overall it's still a net negative. But yes, obviously just a pretty difficult weekend for the team and a painful ending."

Piastri is currently 24 points behind Norris in the standings - Photo: Race Pictures

Piastri knows the world title is an 'outside shot'

Looking at his chances of winning the world title, Piastri continued: "I mean, I think there's still a chance and it's played out that way a couple of times before.

"So I know it's not impossible. I also know that it's a bit of an outside shot.

"Even if I have a perfect final two weekends, I can't just rely on that, I need other things to go my way and I'm very aware of that, so I think for me, I'm just going to try and have best weekends I can, which I try and do every weekend, and see what happens to everyone else basically."

If Norris outscores Piastri by two points over the course of the entire weekend, the Australian will mathematically be eliminated from title contention ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP.

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