Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen post sprint at Spa

Piastri denies 'worrying' trend in F1 title fight

15:39, 11 Aug

Co-author:Norberto Mujica

byLudo van Denderen

Oscar Piastri has the best credentials to succeed Max Verstappen as world champion in Formula 1 during the summer break. However, his lead in the title fight could have been larger in the middle of the summer break than it is currently.

An unfortunate pit stop strategy in the Hungarian Grand Prix and a time penalty in the UK led Piastri to lose points to Lando Norris, instead of increasing the lead on his McLaren teammate. The difference between the two drivers is nine points, in the pursuit of Verstappen's crown.

That difference was much larger earlier in the season, which suggests that Norris is in the middle of executing a turnaround.

Piastri sees it differently, as he tells GPblog and others. "The biggest lead of the year has been 23, and it's not moved within 10 points for the last ten races almost. So, I'm not really that fussed with that.

"Obviously, it would have been nice to have the extra points, but I don't think it's necessarily a trend."

Oscar Piastri leads the world championship

Piastri has a 'very strong' season

Piastri realizes that he hasn't had much luck recently. "Things happening in the last few races differently could have meant quite a different picture.

"But you can say that about pretty much every race this year and about every championship ever," he says honestly.

"So, I'm not concerned at all. I think the pace for the first half of the year has been very, very strong, and I think the last few races as well have been very good.

"I feel like I've driven a lot of strong races, and it's been very tightly fought. So, I expect more of the same after the break."