Piastri bringing ‘a lot of confidence’ into Abu Dhabi as he explains statistic giving him ‘tiniest comfort’ for title bid

Oscar Piastri is feeling “a lot of confidence” that he can perform well at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix off the back of his strong drive in Qatar, with the Australian admitting that a statistic from previous three-way title fights is giving him the “tiniest comfort” about his own championship bid.

After heading the Drivers’ Championship standings from Round 5 onwards, a challenging run during the second half of the season saw Piastri lose the lead to McLaren team mate Lando Norris at Round 20 in Mexico, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also overtook the 24-year-old for second place last time out in Qatar.

McLaren’s backfired strategy at the Lusail International Circuit meant that Piastri had to settle for P2 in the race, but prior to that he enjoyed a solid weekend in which he claimed a Sprint win and pole position, marking his best outing in several races.

This has left Piastri feeling good ahead of the season finale, in which he arrives with slightly more distant title chances than Norris and Verstappen amid a 16-point deficit to Norris.

“I’m relaxed,” Piastri explained during Thursday’s media day in Abu Dhabi. “I’ve been on the opposite side of the championship battle in the junior categories and I know what that felt [like] – it was pretty tough. Coming into it from the least to lose out of us three is quite different for me.

“I think off the back of Qatar I’ve got a lot of confidence that I can perform well. Obviously I need a fair few things to happen this weekend to come out champion, but I’ll just make sure I’m in the right place at the right time and see what happens.”

While his chances of lifting the trophy might be lower than his rivals’, Piastri acknowledged that it would be “pretty cool” to do so.

“I think it often takes a little while for those kind of things to set in,” the driver from Melbourne said. “At the same time, next season starts in a few weeks, so I think regardless of whatever you’ve achieved in the past, and Max is probably the most qualified to say this, but I think you move on pretty quickly and try to win the next race that’s in front of you.

“Obviously it would be a very cool achievement, but I’m not getting my hopes up too high. We’ll see what happens. If I can achieve it, then I’d be a pretty happy guy.”

One factor offering some hope to Piastri is that, on the last two occasions where more than two drivers arrived at the final race with a chance to win the championship, it was the third-placed competitor who ultimately took the title – that being Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 and Sebastian Vettel in 2010.

“It’s a nice stat to have, given that I’m in that position, but just because it’s gone that way once doesn’t mean it will again, so I’m certainly not leaning on that,” Piastri conceded. “But it maybe gives me the tiniest amount of comfort that it is possible.”

Piastri was also quizzed on whether he had given any thought to the possibility of team orders to support Norris’ championship bid in Abu Dhabi, should a scenario unfold where he finds himself out of contention while Norris is still in with a chance.

“It’s not something we’ve discussed,” the nine-time race winner responded. “Until I know what’s kind of expected, I don’t really have an answer.”

In the meantime, Piastri is focused on the weekend ahead and took a moment to thank his supporters in his native Australia, adding: “I’ll try my best to bring it home for everyone.”