Oscar Piastri's data from recent races has emerged amid fans' conspiracy theories claiming the Australian has been sabotaged by McLaren.
Heading into the summer break, Piastri had a healthy lead over Lando Norris and the gap between himself and Max Verstappen was more than 100 points.
However, Piastri has endured difficult weekends in the last four races, allowing Verstappen to close the gap to just 34 points.
Meanwhile, after winning last weekend's Mexico Grand Prix, Norris now leads the world championship by one point with just four Grands Prix left to go.
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Amid Piastri's ongoing struggles, fans have accused McLaren of favouring Norris and, in some ways, sabotaging the Australian.
However, a report containing Piastri's recent data has debunked the theories.
Respected Formula 1 journalist Mark Hughes has stated that Piastri's data shows that his recent struggles can be blamed on tyre dynamics and not team bias.
As per Motorsport Magazine, Hughes alluded to the fact that both Austin and Mexico City were very low-grip tracks and Piastri 'simply didn’t adapt his driving to that as well as Norris'.
It has been suggested that due to their differing driving styles, Piastri ended up being 0.5 seconds slower than Norris.
During qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, it was revealed that Piastri lost 0.25 seconds to Norris going into Turn One and 0.343 seconds in the final corner.
The Australian lost time to Norris due to his front tyres not being up to temperature.
In the final corner, Piastri encountered understeer upon entry. After applying more lock as the power came in, it resulted in more oversteer on exit, meaning his rear tyre surface was slightly overheated.
As a result, Piastri's best lap in Q3 only managed to put his McLaren in eighth position.
Speaking after finishing the race in fifth place, Piastri said: "I’ve been needing to drive the car very differently these last two weekends and when it’s been working very well for you in the previous 19 races that’s difficult to get your head around.
"The car’s not changed for a while now. So it’s nothing to do with the car… Lando has dialled into it better in these last couple of races."
F1 returns next weekend with the Brazilian Grand Prix, taking place around the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo.
Topics: Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, McLaren, Formula 1
Marcus Chan