Piastri wary of F1 title threat after McLaren setback

Oscar Piastri is wary of the threat Ferrari pose in the F1 constructors' title fight, following McLaren's disappointing United States Grand Prix. 

McLaren failed to claim a podium for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this year after Lando Norris finished fourth and Piastri finished fifth. 

For the Australian driver, it was his worst result of the season since the Spanish Grand Prix in June. The Woking-based team, despite Norris claiming pole, looked off-colour all weekend at the Circuit of the Americas. 

Red Bull took a point off the British team and reduced its lead in the standings to 40 points, whilst Ferrari is only 48 adrift after finishing first and second.

When asked if he expected last weekend to be the toughest of the remaining races for McLaren, Piastri said: "I hope so. The car was very tricky all weekend. I think over one lap, it had the potential to be quick, but trying to unlock it was incredibly tough. 

"And then over the race, you can't get away with the same things you can over one lap, and the kind of true pace really shows itself a lot more so I hope it's our weakest of the last six. 

"We obviously had some good races at the tracks coming up. Last year we had sort of bad races at some of the tracks coming up. 

"So I think in general, we should be a bit more competitive, but certainly not expecting Ferrari to be out of the picture for the rest of the year either."

Ferrari enter title fight

Ferrari is the outfit being watched very closely now, as it has looked very strong since the Italian Grand Prix. 

Courtesy of Charles Leclerc winning last weekend and Carlos Sainz finishing second, the Maranello-based team is a significant threat to McLaren in the title race. 

Piastri is very much aware of Ferrari's improving form and consistent strong pace over recent rounds, even if the result has not always gone the team's way.

"I think they've kind of gone a little bit under the radar in the last few races," assessed Piastri. "Monza, they were obviously very quick. 

"Baku was tough, very, very tough to hold them back. And Singapore, without their poor qualifying, they would have been very, very competitive. 

"Last weekend is the same. So I think [Ferrari's one-two] is not a completely unexpected result, but we obviously need to try and make sure we turn that around in Mexico City."