Piastri says “the approach doesn’t change” when asked about his championship bid

Written by Charlotte Mui

Credit: Formula One

The McLaren duo have been locked in a championship fight for the majority of the season, with momentum swinging back and forth between them. Coming out of the summer break, only nine points separated them in the standings.

Prior to the break, Lando Norris appeared to have the upper hand, having won three of the past four Grands Prix. He followed that up by topping the timesheets in every practice session in Zandvoort, looking poised for a dominant weekend. 

Yet, Oscar Piastri showed his clutch factor in qualifying, taking pole ahead of his teammate by just 12 thousandths of a second. 

On race day, he easily held position, and looked set to increase his lead by seven points. 

However, with only a few laps to go, Norris suffered a heartbreaking DNF, turning the day into a 25-point gain for the Aussie and stretching his championship lead to 34 points—the largest margin of the season. 

Coming into the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri insisted his lead wouldn't alter his approach to racing: “There’s no reason to change anything now. The gap is still, you know, it’s bigger now but it’s still far from being comfortable and being able to change the way I go about things.

“Me and the engineers are trying to get the most out of the car, get the most out of myself, and that doesn’t change whether you’re first or last. You’re always trying to get the best out of yourself.”

Some believe that Piastri would play it safer considering his lead, but he was quick to stress that that wouldn’t be the case: “Even the approach to risk, I don’t think will change. I would still like to extend it even more because, like I said, there's still a long way to go and a bigger lead is always a better thing.”

Piastri will be looking to tighten his grip on the title with a win in Monza.