The Melbourne driver arrives in Hungary with momentum after a commanding victory in Belgium — his sixth win of the year — and leads the championship standings ahead of teammate Lando Norris.
The Hungaroring also marks a sentimental milestone for the 24-year-old, who claimed his maiden grand prix victory at the circuit one year ago.
It’s been 17 years since McLaren last won the drivers’ championship.
That was with Lewis Hamilton, who claimed the title in a dramatic conclusion in 2008 at Interlagos when he defeated Felipe Massa with a last lap pass on Timo Glock.
Asked if he could win the title, Piastri didn’t hesitate.
“I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it,” he said.
“Not every weekend has been perfect, but there’s not many weekends in my whole life that have been perfect.
“Just trying to put together a solid, consistent year is ultimately going to be important. The pace in the last few weekends, especially Spa, I’ve been very confident in and very proud of.
“I’m more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year. I’m confident that I can do it, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Piastri’s win in Belgium reinforced McLaren’s dominance, and with the team leading both championships, he said his title fight is primarily with teammate Lando Norris.
“Every weekend now, or the last few weekends anyway, it has been Lando and I,” he said.
“Clearly, Lando and I are in the same car, which is the best, and he’s naturally going to be the close competition.”
And while Piastri acknowledged the intra-team duel, he’s wary of writing off others just yet.
“I expect our competition to still be strong and put up a good fight, especially at certain tracks through the rest of the year,” he added.
“Whether that comes from Max or Ferrari or Mercedes or someone else, we never really know.
“I’m not too concerned about what happens in that. I’m just trying to win each race and extend the lead.”
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With 10 races remaining after Hungary and the championship entering a decisive phase, Piastri said his focus is on being fast and making as few mistakes as possible.
“You can be consistent, but if you’re consistently coming second, that’s not very useful,” he said.
“You need to have both. At the level of the field and the level of my teammate, you need to bring your best.
“Inevitably, when you’re pushing that hard, there are going to be mistakes here and there because it doesn’t come without risk.
“You can’t afford to take things easy and try and be consistent. You need to push and you need to be quick.
“Of course, you try and execute as best as you can, but you need both to win the championship. You can’t just rely on one.”
Since the start of the season, McLaren has let its drivers race freely, and Piastri confirmed that hasn’t changed despite the high stakes and the team’s history of intense rivalries.
“We’ve been free to race from race one,” he said.
“Everybody knows the history of Senna and Prost and that rivalry, and other rivalries outside of McLaren. You don’t really need an example to set the culture that we have at the moment.
“We’re both very conscious that we want this opportunity of having the car and the team in this position for many years to come.
“The best way we can help as drivers apart from driving fast is by giving the team good morale and good confidence and making it a good team environment.
“That’s very important for us this year and going forward.
“We’ve all seen how it can go wrong, but we have a lot of reasons to push for it to not go wrong.”
Piastri also reflected on how far he’s come since his breakthrough win in Hungary last season.
The Aussie has added seven more wins since that maiden victory, including a record-breaking six this season — the most ever by an Australian in a single F1 campaign.
He said he believes his strong form has come from being more consistently able to perform at his peak.
“Last year, I felt like I had some weekends that were very strong and felt like I had enough to win races on my good days,” Piastri explained.
“But there were a lot of average and sometimes bad days in between.
“This year has been full of a lot more good days. I have improved as a driver, but I think I’ve been able to get closer to what I think I’m capable of more often.
“That’s been the biggest thing. It’s not come from one specific area. It’s come from looking at lots of different things.
“Being able to execute what I think is my best more and more often, that’s been the difference.”
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