Speaking ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Australian said he largely understands the issues behind his slump but stressed that the problems have not followed a single pattern.
He explained that Austin and Mexico exposed “a clear pace deficit and something pretty fundamental that just wasn’t working,” while other weekends unravelled through isolated setbacks.
“For me… yes, there’s been a string of races that have not gone very well, but I don’t think they’ve been along the same lines,” he said.
“The other races, the performance has been there, but there’s been something going wrong, whether it be a mistake or a crash or something else going wrong.”
Piastri pointed to Baku, Singapore and Sao Paulo as examples where the pace was competitive despite the results.
In Brazil, he said, “the pace was good at points,” but the Sprint crash and its knock-on effects left the weekend “sub-optimal.”
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He admitted that some moments this year have been difficult to work through, contributing to a “tough” run into Baku, which he previously called “the worst weekend I’ve ever had in racing.”
But he added that such setbacks are expected in a title fight.
“There’s definitely been some tough moments through the year and some tough conversations as well,” he said.
“You know, that’s part of the game. When you’re fighting for a championship, things matter a lot.
“You’re going to have, again, those bumps in the road or things that you need to work out together as a team.
“I’m sure there’s no one on the grid that’s sitting there perfectly happy with every decision that’s been made, whether it be from their team, from the stewards, from how they’ve driven themselves. So it is all part of it.
“Again, there have been some tough conversations through the year and some things to kind of sort out and realign on.
“But I’m in a very comfortable place that we’ve done a good job of that as a team.”
Despite trailing Norris by 24 points with three rounds remaining, Piastri said his approach will not change. He said his focus remained on executing clean weekends and maximising performance rather than chasing specific targets.
“The best thing I can do, and what I try and do every weekend, is just get the most performance out of myself and the car,” he said.
“And if I can do that, then I can put myself in the best position to try and win the race, and that’ll help me with the championship.”
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