Oscar Piastri has responded to Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, after he said the Australian “needs to slam his fist on the table” after losing ground to Lando Norris in the title fight.
Ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend, Norris arrives in Sao Paulo with the world championship lead for the first time in months, holding a one-point advantage over his McLaren teammate Piastri.
Back in September, it looked like Piastri was destined for the title as he sat 34 points clear.
But that has all changed in recent weeks. In fact, four-time world champion Max Verstappen has reduced the gap of late and is now just 36 points behind with four race weekends remaining.
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Piastri, who has not featured on a podium since the Italian Grand Prix, has been one of the big talking points as we head into the final stretch.
Earlier this week, McLaren were criticised by former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, who has accused them of disadvantaging Piastri.
“Yes, that’s what it looks like. McLaren has clearly favoured Norris in the second half of the season," he told RTL/ntv and sport.de, adding that Norris was being favoured because of his marketability.
"He has more star power, more camera presence, and is more in the public eye," Ecclestone added. "That makes him more valuable to McLaren.”
Jos Verstappen also gave his take on the situation, suggesting that Piastri risks reputational damage if he fails to win this year's world championship.
"I find it quite strange what's happening at McLaren," Verstappen told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. "Piastri can't have suddenly forgotten how to drive, right? If I were him, or his manager [ex-driver Mark Webber], I'd bang my fist on the table internally at least once.
"Because right now everyone is wondering whether he can handle the pressure, and that's not good for your reputation... Piastri's reputation in this case."
There is a theory amongst fans that McLaren has favoured Lando Norris over Piastri in recent months, although McLaren has strongly denied such suggestions.
Piastri has now responded to those claims. "No, it's not the case," he said Thursday's media day at Interlagos, after being asked a question on conspiracies of McLaren sabotage.
"I think the last couple of weekends have been a little bit more tricky, but we've got pretty clear answers on why that's the case. There's not really too many mysteries on what's happened."
Piastri added: "I think there's some questions of why some differences have cropped up in terms of how I need to drive and stuff like that, but yeah, everything is explainable."
Topics: Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Formula 1
Jack Kenmare