Oscar Piastri says he is “not concerned at all” that his team mate has cut his championship lead over the last four rounds.
He led the championship by 22 points over Lando Norris four rounds ago. However Norris has won three grands prix since then, cutting Piastri’s lead to just nine points ahead of the summer break.
Piastri narrowly finished second to Norris in Hungary after his team mate moved ahead of him using a different strategy. But the narrowing gap is not a concern to him yet.
“The biggest lead of the year has been 23 and it’s not moved within 10 points for the last 10 races almost,” said Piastri. “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,” he said. “One second different, and the trend would have looked quite different today.”
Norris’s form has improved since McLaren introduced a new front suspension configuration which Piastri has chosen not to use. He led a McLaren one-two in Austria and won in Britain after Piastri was penalised for an incident behind the Safety Car involving Max Verstappen.
Piastri hit back to win at Spa, passing Norris immediately after the start. But Norris took an unlikely win in Hungary after falling to fifth place on the first lap.
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“Things happening in the last few races differently could have meant quite a different picture,” Piastri continued. “But you can say that about pretty much every race this year and about every championship ever. 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.”
Norris predicted the fight between the two drivers will last until the final stages of the championship. “It’s already tough and it’s going to continue to be tough,” he said. “It’s pretty small margins between us.
“I’m sure there’s some things I can do better on and improve on and I’m sure he’ll probably say a similar thing. So it’s going to be a good and tough battle probably ’til the end.”
After Norris won the season-opening race in Australia it took him seven races to claim another victory. He admitted he’s not always performed at the level he should.
“It takes a lot out of you trying to focus so much for every single session, race, everything,” he said. “It’s going be a long second half of the season, I’m sure.
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“But at the same time I’m looking forward to a nice break, a bit of time to rest, and try and come back even better because there are things I need to improve on and want to improve on.
“I’m not giving myself the best opportunities. Even though the results have looked great I’m not making my life very easy for myself at the minute. So if I can work on those things then I’ll be in a better place.”
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