Piastri is not “reinventing” himself despite tough race in Mexico City

Oscar Piastri is no longer leading the Drivers’ Championship following a fifth-place finish in Mexico City, but he won’t be “reinventing” himself in order to bounce back.

Piastri is now second in the Drivers' Championship | Credit: Formula One

Starting the race from seventh, Piastri unfortunately dropped down to ninth in the opening lap. The Australian driver managed to pass the likes of Yuki Tsunoda, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell to gain positions and finish the race in fifth place to pick up 10 points.

His teammate, Lando Norris, now tops the standings by one point, the first he has led the championship since April.

Reflecting on his race in Mexico City, Piastri said: "I felt like the whole race I was right behind someone and struggling with the dirty air. That was pretty difficult. For me the biggest thing is trying to learn the things I wanted to learn today.

“Yesterday it became obvious after the session that there was a few things I needed to change pretty majorly in how I was driving. Today was about trying to limit the damage, but also trying to learn some things about that. If I’ve made some progress with that I’ll be happy.

“Obviously when your teammate wins the race, finishing fifth is nothing that extravagant."

Piastri admitted to having to change his driving in the past few races: “I’ve just had to drive very differently the last couple of weekends – or I’ve not driven differently when I should have. 

“I think that’s been a little bit strange to get my head around because I’ve been driving exactly the same as I have all year.

“It’s just the last couple of weekends the car or the tyres or something required quite a different way of driving. I’ve just not really gone to that. I’ve tried to change it up a bit today and once we analyse if it’s effective or not that will hopefully help see some progress.

“The car’s obviously not changed for a while so it’s nothing to do with the car. Given how the pace has differentiated, clearly Lando [Norris] has found it easier to dial into that and I haven’t.

“It’s important to remember the other 19 races and the way I’ve been driving has been working pretty well.

Piastri made it clear that he doesn’t need to change entirely, but he may need to add some additions to his skill set: “It’s about adding some tools to the toolbox, rather than reinventing myself.”

Now only one point separates Norris and Piastri, with Max Verstappen 35 points behind Piastri, sitting third in the standings. Verstappen has recently had some strong weekends and will now only push further to move up in the championship.

If Piastri does manage to add “some tools to the tool box,” he shouldn’t need to worry about Verstappen’s championship threat.