Oscar Piastri names cause of US GP disaster as Max Verstappen title threat grows

Oscar Piastri believes his poor performance throughout the United States Grand Prix weekend was simply "track-specific" after labouring to a fifth-place finish.

After crashing out of the Sprint on Lap 1 after his switchback attempt on team-mate Lando Norris triggered a chain-reaction, Piastri started sixth for the main grand prix, well behind title rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris on the front-row.

Piastri was around two to three-tenths slower than Norris and Verstappen throughout the weekend, and came home a distant fifth to see his points lead reduced to 40 over Verstappen and 14 over Norris - the fourth straight race he had bled points to Norris and Verstappen.

Reflecting on his tough weekend, Piastri explained that he felt the poor performance was simply due to not gelling with the Austin track. 

"I just didn't have the pace to do anything, I was trying a lot of different things to find some pace, but it was either the same pace or slower," Piastri explained to media including RacingNews365.

"I think it was probably track-specific. I've not felt particularly comfortable the whole weekend, so definitely there are some things to try and understand, but with the pace I had this weekend, I did the most I could, and qualifying and the race were clean at least, and I made up a spot.

"Ultimately, that's all I can really ask for at the moment."

Addressing the threat of Verstappen, Piastri dismissed his eating into the Australian's points lead, and was sure that if he could solve his problems with the feeling of the car, he would stop leaking points.

"I mean, he's obviously there, and he is quick, but for me, the biggest focus is trying to work out why this weekend was tough and try to get on the form we had earlier in the season," he said.

"That's my biggest focus, and if we can find that again, then the results will take care of themselves. 

"I'd still rather be where I am than the other two, but obviously this weekend was not what I wanted or expected - but it has been quite different to the previous two. 

"Baku was a bit of a disaster for very different reasons, and Singapore was what it was, so this weekend has been the odd one out compared to those. 

"But Max and Red Bull have found a lot of pace since the summer break. We saw flashes of it at the start of the year, but it's been consistent since then."