After the Canada Grand Prix, Oscar Piatri was still 22 points in front of his worst pursuer, teammate Lando Norris in the driver World Cup. After the race on the Hungaroring in Hungary, there are now only nine points.
The Australian won only one of the following four races, the other three won the Brit. However, Piatri cannot be disturbed by his shrinking World Cup lead.
“The biggest lead this year was 23 points, and it has not changed by more than ten points for almost ten races,” said the Australian: “Sure, extra points would have been nice, but I don’t see a real trend in it.”
Sectors decide on race output
At the narrow output of the Hungary Grand Prix, Piatri had set an attack in the penultimate round, in which he was able to prevent a threatening collision with smoking bikes. If the overtaking maneuver had been successful, “the picture would have looked very different.”
The McLaren pilot points out that little things can quickly have a big influence in such a tight title fight. “You can basically say that about every race this year – and about every World Cup. That’s why I’m not worried at all. The pace in the first half of the season was very strong, and the last races were also very good. I expect it to continue after the break.”
Teammates predict hard second half of the season
Teammate Norris also agrees that small things can have a major impact on the racing result and the World Cup: “It costs an enormous amount of energy to concentrate on everything in every single session, every race,” said the Brit that seems to have caught up after his Canada faux pas. In the second half of the season, however, he wants to “be even better.”
“At the moment I am not making life easy for myself, even if the results look good. When I improve these points, I’m in a better position,” said Lando Norris.
When asked about the mental challenges in the second half of the season, Piatri is unimpressed: “So far it has been a close struggle and it will stay that way. I have driven many strong races and feel ready to continue this way.”
When looking at his qualifying services, he also sees a clear progress: “It was not perfect yet, but a significant improvement to the previous year. Now it is about getting this every weekend – that will be the key.”