Verstappen surprises Piastri: Meteoric rise in the fight for the F1 title

Piastri Surprised by Verstappen’s Momentum in the Championship Fight

Oscar Piastri has expressed his surprise at the speed with which Max Verstappen has positioned himself in the fight for the world championship. After Piastri’s victory in Zandvoort at the end of August, the Australian driver led his teammate, Lando Norris, by 34 points and Verstappen by 104. However, Piastri has failed to outperform Norris or Verstappen in the following four races, reducing his lead to 14 points over Norris and 40 over the Dutchman, consolidating a three-way battle. Red Bull is expected to show a great performance on a circuit where Verstappen has achieved five victories. Another successful weekend for the four-time world champion would continue his meteoric rise in the fight for the title.

Verstappen, who had stated that his quest for a fifth consecutive championship was over before the summer break, has outperformed the McLaren duo in each of the last four races.

I think so, but everyone thought so.

Oscar Piastri

When asked if he thought after Zandvoort that his fight for the title was only with Norris, Piastri replied: “I think so, but everyone thought so. The streak of form he (Verstappen) has had since Monza has been a bit surprising. There were flashes of that performance at the beginning of the season, but also significant dips. He has gotten into the fight faster than I expected.”

Piastri had a difficult weekend in Austin, suffering an accident in the sprint race and also eliminating Norris before finishing in fifth place in Sunday’s race. However, the 24-year-old driver claims he is not thinking about the imminent threat of his rivals.

The gap has closed a little in the last races, but the focus has always been to go as fast as possible. I prefer to have the advantage than to be anywhere else. It doesn’t benefit me to worry about that or focus on that.

Oscar Piastri

There are five rounds left in the championship, with 141 points still up for grabs before this weekend’s battle in Mexico City. Piastri struggled here last year, suffering a surprising elimination in Q1 before fighting to finish eighth in the race. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez presents a unique challenge for cars and drivers at more than 2 km above sea level, with the low air density at altitude, which makes it difficult to generate aerodynamic downforce.