Mark Webber’s private words on Oscar Piastri’s F1 title hopes shared by David Croft

Croft was keeping an eye on Piastri during the broadcast for Sky Sports F1 as the McLaren driver found it tough to stay with Lewis Hamilton while also needing to keep an eye on George Russell closing in from behind.

He explained: “I was talking to Mark Webber, Oscar Piastri’s manager, earlier today.

“He said there was nothing wrong with Oscar, his head’s up, his chin’s up. Yeah, he’s lost a few points in his lead, but he’s got a very healthy lead out in front.

“As another race goes by, you’ve got to reverse the trend at some stage. There’s still an awful long way to go in this season, and I think it’s going to give us an absolutely blockbuster finish this year.

“Yes, I think Oscar Piastri has absolutely got the mental capacity to cope with this fight.

“If you remember back to F3, his championship-winning F3 season, his lead got whittled down there, and he coped very well there, with the pressure.”

Martin Brundle then responded: “Yeah, and Oscar needs a solid weekend again, doesn’t he? He has to go next week.”

Oscar Piastri admits to his struggles after United States Grand Prix

Piastri acknowledged that he couldn’t find his rhythm throughout the weekend and explained why after the race.

“It is very important wherever you go [to get qualifying right],” Piastri said.

“I think today, race pace could have saved you, but I didn’t really have that either. It’s something I want to work on, obviously.

“But I think qualifying has generally been consistently good; there’s obviously been highs at certain points, but this weekend, apart from Baku, has been the first weekend where it has been a letdown.

“Even if it has been sub-par before, it has still been pretty good. Some things to try and understand from this weekend because clearly it wasn’t just related to qualifying.”

Piastri also said that it is too early for McLaren to start favouring one driver over another despite Verstappen’s momentum continuing to build.

Webber has made clear how he feels about how Piastri has been treated behind closed doors at McLaren, as several decisions have not gone in his favour recently.

Norris did face consequences for their contact in Singapore, but that did not stop him from further cutting into Piastri’s lead at the top of the standings.