Oscar Piastri believes that McLaren F1 has the means and performance to win the constructors' title this weekend in Abu Dhabi. The Woking team are 21 points ahead of Ferrari, and he hopes that will be enough of a basis to get there.
“I think we're still confident. Like Carlos said, we're still in a good place in terms of the lead.” said the Australian driver in Abu Dhabi.
“I think the weekend will be hotly contested between the top four teams, not just us and Ferrari, which means some of the other teams can potentially play a role in deciding the championship.”
“That's what we're going to see. We're going to focus on ourselves and try to get the most out of our game and the car that we have, and I guess we'll see where we are. But I think that we are well placed and that we remain confident.”
However, he is not changing his approach for the last race of the year: “Yes and no. I think in some of the races in the second half of the season, especially when we were starting to take points away from Max, there was a kind of urgency to make sure that still happened to the drivers' championship.”
“And I think now it's obviously a similar scenario for the constructors. You know, Qatar didn't end exactly the way we wanted as a team, but I think the confidence is still there. And yes, of course, a lot depends on this weekend, that’s obvious.”
“I think the best way to approach it is to do what we did and try to get the most out of our car, because I think it's very early to start keeping our eyes on what Ferrari is doing we have to keep at least one eye, probably both at the moment, on our own performance.
The Australian draws a positive assessment of his season, particularly the progress he has made, even if he wants more: “I think there has been a good improvement from my first season, but there is still room for improvement.”
“I think a few races early in the season and a few more recent races didn't go as well as I would have liked. And I also think as a team there were a few races throughout of the year that we would have liked to have performed a little better.”
“But I think, especially in the middle of the year, I was very happy with my performance level and I think I showed quite clear progress compared to last season. I think, mainly in qualifying , I've made life too difficult for myself this year.”
“But I think that last year, in a lot of races, I wouldn't have had the tools to come back. Whereas this year, I feel like I have the means. So I think that on the Personally, it's a good improvement, but yes, there is still room.”
After the longest season in world championship history, Piastri admits that 24 races is sometimes an exaggerated number: “I think compared to my first season in F1 it's better, I would say, because I know what to expect this year.”
“I think the last two triples have been difficult. I mean, not just for us, but probably for everyone in the room. Going from Vegas to Qatar, with some pretty weird time zones, it's very difficult. “
“I think it's difficult for us as drivers, but it's especially for the teams and the mechanics that we were talking about earlier. Showing up on Tuesday or Wednesday, building the car, you know, making sure it's at the best possible level.”
“Nowadays the reliability is so good that even the slightest failure costs a lot of money. For us it's difficult, but we have the team or our teams much more in mind with these long seasons and the amount of travel that 'what they do, the time they spend away from their families.'
“I think more and more of us are thinking that teams need to employ more staff because trying to do 24 races for a lot of people who have families just doesn't make sense anymore. It has therefore repercussions.”
“To give credit to F1 and the FIA, I think the direction we are taking in terms of the calendar and trying to streamline is improving things. But I think there are still adjustments to be made. And yes , again, a lot of our concerns are about our teams much broader than just ourselves.”
