Piastri points to Verstappen as favourite: 'That will be very difficult'
Red Bull Content Pool
F1 News
- Corwin Kunst
Oscar Piastri is showing great things at McLaren. Especially over one lap, the Australian is lightning fast and can challenge Lando Norris. Things are slightly different on Sundays, when tyre management is also in consideration. The driver - only in his second season in Formula 1 - feels that a victory is getting closer and closer.
Speaking to GPblog and others, Piastri reveals that he is convinced he can fight for wins with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris (and possibly other drivers). "Yeah, I think I'm definitely in the hunt for the win. We've had a really competitive car the last, like I just said, like three months. And, you know, there's been a lot of, let's say, near misses and opportunities. I don't think there's been a sort of clear-cut opportunity where we could have easily won. But we've been in the fight for a long time now."
"So I don't think that really changes that mindset now. I think we've given ourselves enough evidence on enough different tracks to be able to say we're back and able to fight for wins. And, yeah, certainly for myself, I want to be up in the fight for that.," Piastri said.
Battle with Red Bull
Next weekend, Red Bull Racing again look to be the main challenger. The RB20 performs well in the high-speed corners, of which Silverstone has many. "I think Red Bull will be strong. They were very quick in the high-speed corners in Barcelona, very quick in the high-speed in Austria. And, I mean, basically this whole track is high-speed corners. So I think they'll be very tough to beat."
"I think it's been a strength of ours in the past as well. And there is some low-speed corners, which we've certainly made a strength in the last few races. So I think it will be a good fight, I think, towards the front. But, yeah, given how quick they were in the high-speed last week compared to everyone, not just us, I think they'll be very tough to beat," Piastri is realistic.
McLaren with two cars, Red Bull with one
Red Bull Racing is mainly leaning on Verstappen at the moment, as Sergio Pérez is in quite a form crisis. Piastri wants to reap the benefits of that with McLaren. "It certainly helps out. Our constructors championship bid. Yeah. I mean, it has just been Max, really, which whenever you have two cars up the front versus one, it opens up some opportunities and is always good for point scoring. So, yes, I think it's just always a good thing to have."