Oscar Piastri believes he has "evidence" that he will be able to weather the wobble he is experiencing and fend off Max Verstappen's charge for the world championship.
Piastri suffered a dismal weekend in Austin, with a first lap crash in the Sprint for which he was widely deemed responsible, and a distant fifth in the grand prix to score 10 points.
In contrast, Verstappen put in another faultless performance to claim both victories and haul a maximum of 33 points to eat into Piastri's advantage, which had stood at 63 points coming into the weekend.
As it stands, Piastri now has 346 points, Lando Norris 332, and Verstappen 306 with 141 remaining across the final races, with the Dutchman having taken 64 points out of the Australian since Monza.
However, Piastri believes his prior experience of tight championship battles, including a titanic duel with Logan Sargeant for the 2020 FIA F3 crown, which went down to the final race, will come in handy.
"I'm just trying to understand if we've been maximising the car every weekend, and in race trim, we've still looked pretty good," Piastri explained to media, including RacingNews365.
"But in qualifying trim, it has been a little bit tougher for us over the last few weekends, and this weekend, for whatever reason, I've just not gelled with the car at all, so that's the biggest thing.
"The only thing to do is analyse and see what we can do.
"I've been in [title] fights that were as close, or even closer at this point than what they are now, so I've got the evidence for myself that things can still turn out well, and I still fully believe that I can win the championship.
"This weekend was tough, and the gap has come down a little bit in the last few weekends, but performance is what is going to win you a championship, not just looking at the points and seeing if you can increase or decrease it.
"The faster you go, the more points you are going to score, and that is what matters."
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