Piastri 'very confident' in title glory amid tight McLaren battle

Oscar Piastri is brimming with belief as he heads into the Hungarian Grand Prix, confident that he has what it takes to claim his first Formula 1 World Championship.

The 23-year-old Australian reclaimed control of the title race with a dominant win at Spa-Francorchamps, extending his lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris to 16 points.

Asked directly if he believes he will win the title, Piastri didn’t hesitate.

“I think I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it,” he said. “Not every weekend has been perfect, but there’s not many weekends in my whole life that have been perfect.

“I think just trying to put together a solid, consistent year is ultimately going to be an important thing.

“I think the pace in the last few weekends, especially Spa, I’ve been very confident in and I’m very proud of, and I think I’m more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year.

“I’m confident that I can do it, but it’s not going to be easy.”

The Norris Threat – and Other Contenders

With Norris taking back-to-back victories in Austria and Britain before Piastri’s Spa triumph, the McLaren pair have emerged as the clear frontrunners in the championship fight. The Aussie acknowledged the intensity of the intra-team rivalry, but remains focused.

“I suppose so. The last few weekends it’s been Lando and I,” he said when asked if the title battle is now a two-horse race.

“I expect our competition to still be strong and put up a good fight, especially at certain tracks through the rest of the year, but whether that comes from Max [Verstappen] or Ferrari or Mercedes or someone else, we never really know.”

Still, it’s his teammate who looms largest in Piastri’s mirrors.

“I’m not too concerned about what happens in that, I’m just trying to win each race and extend the lead. I think clearly Lando and I are in the same car, which is the best, and he’s naturally going to be the most competition,” he said.

Speed vs. Consistency: The Championship Formula

With nine races remaining, Piastri was also asked what will prove most decisive – outright pace or avoiding mistakes.

“You can make an argument for either one – you can be consistent, but if you’re consistently coming second then that’s not very useful for you, so you do need to have both,” he explained.

“At the level of the field and the level of my team mate, you need to bring your best, and evidently when you’re pushing that hard there are going to be mistakes here and there, because it doesn’t come without that risk.

“But you can’t just afford to take things easy – you’ve got to try and be consistent, you need to push and you need to be quick, and then of course you try and execute as best as you can. You need both to win the championship – you can’t just rely on one.”

Returning to the Scene of His Breakthrough

The championship leader returns this weekend to the Hungaroring, where he took his first career Grand Prix victory 12 months ago – thanks in part to team orders that ultimately saw Norris concede the lead back after a strategic shuffle.

Asked if a similar intra-team battle is likely this time, Piastri said: “I don’t know. Hungary has been historically a good track for us as a team in the two years that I’ve been with the team, so I expect us to be strong again this weekend.

“But there’s been tracks this year where we thought we would be very strong against our competition and they were closer than we thought, and there’s been other tracks where we thought our competition would be very close and actually the gap was bigger than we thought.

“You never know, but I expect us to still be at the front.”

As the title fight sharpens, one thing is clear – Piastri isn’t just holding onto the lead; he’s aiming to own it.

• Read also: McLaren one win away from 200 – Norris aims to seal it in Hungary

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