Piastri holds firm on title hopes: ‘I’ve still got the belief’

Oscar Piastri insists he still believes he can win the 2025 Formula 1 world title – even after crashing out of Saturday’s São Paulo Sprint race and slipping further behind McLaren teammate and championship leader Lando Norris.

The Australian endured a bruising day at Interlagos, tumbling from third place to the barriers in a damp Sprint that handed Norris an extra eight points and a nine-point championship cushion heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Yet despite the mounting pressure, Piastri was adamant his confidence hasn’t wavered.

A Return to Normal in Brazil

It’s been a wild ride for Piastri this season. Back in August, he held a commanding 34-point lead over Norris after the Brit’s untimely retirement at the Dutch Grand Prix. But the tides have turned dramatically since then.

A DNF in Baku and lackluster performances in Austin and Mexico allowed Norris to claw his way back, flipping the championship lead. By the time the F1 circus rolled into Interlagos, Piastri found himself one point behind his teammate.

Saturday’s Sprint race only widened the gap. Yet, Piastri believes he has turned a corner with his driving form.

“I think in Austin and Mexico there were clearly some things to learn and just some things that I wasn’t very naturally comfortable with that I had to adapt to,” Piastri said.

“This weekend, certainly yesterday, things felt much more normal. From the first lap of practice I felt comfortable, the lap time was coming easily.

“Today was a little bit more tricky in terms of the conditions and just trying to get everything out of it, but I don’t think there’s been the same issues this weekend.

“I’ve still got the belief that I can go out and win races and win the championship but obviously things are not coming as easy as I’d like at the moment.”

A Costly Misstep in the Sprint

Piastri’s Sprint race unravelled on lap six when he hit the wet inside kerb at Turn 3 and spun into the wall – a mistake eerily mirrored by Nico Hülkenberg and Franco Colapinto moments later.

The crash left McLaren with another repair job and Piastri with more lost ground in the standings.

“I used [the kerb] a little bit the lap before and had no problems with it,” he explained.

“Looking back, a couple of guys ahead also used it and potentially put a bit more water where I went. I probably shouldn’t have been on the kerb anyway, but the track was in a different state than the lap before as well and clearly I wasn’t the only one that got caught out by that.

“Again, I probably shouldn’t have been on the kerb, but a bit unfortunate that the consequences were so high.”

A ‘Bizarre’ Qualifying Session

Piastri’s focus switched to qualifying in the afternoon, but again, the Aussie underperformed relative to Norris in a session he finished P4 and which he described as “a bit bizarre”.

“The qualifying session itself wasn’t easy,” he explained. “A bit of a bizarre session and weekend with the soft tyre just not working for some reason.

“To have pretty much zero lap time improvement through Q1, Q2 and Q3 is quite weird. It feels like things are not flowing that easily at the moment and I just struggled to get the most out of the car.”

Assessing his prospects for Sunday, Piastri reckoned he would need to clear those directly in front of him – namely Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc – at the start to keep Norris in his line of sight.

“Just try and pass a few cars,” he said. “That’s all I can try and do. Just try and capitalise on any opportunities that come up and see what happens.”

Read also:

Norris on Sao Paulo GP pole run: ‘I stayed calm when it mattered’

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