Australian insists that he can still claim title, whilst admitting he refused request to back his teammate.

While the double disqualification in Las Vegas appeared to turn the title fight on its head, according to much of the media the 2025 crown is still Lando Norris' t lose... even though he made a pretty good attempt to do just that at Turn 1 last week.

The Briton still leads by 24 points, but over the next two weekends there are 58 up for grabs.

Tied with Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri knows that the odds ar against him, but he isn't giving up.

"I think there's still a chance," he told reporters today in Qatar. "It's played out that way a couple of times before, so I know it's not impossible," he added. "Obviously I also know that it's a bit of an outside shot.

"Even if I have a perfect final two weekends, I can't just rely on that," he admitted. "I need other things to go my way and I'm very aware of that.

"So, I think I'm just going to try and have the best weekends I can, which I try and do every weekend, and see what happens to everyone else basically."

Of course, the Dutch elephant in the room is another factor to be considered, and despite the so-called papaya rules and the insistence that its drivers are free to fight, Piastri admits that he was asked if he would consider backing his teammate.

It was a short conversation.

"We had a very brief discussion on it, and the answer is no," he revealed. "I'm still equal on points with Max and I've got a decent shot of still winning it if things go my way, so yeah, that's how we'll play."

Despite the pressure, the all-out intensity of the championship battle, the Australian insists that he isn't changing his approach.

"Not necessarily, no," he said. "I mean I think every weekend you try to get the best result you can and whether that's round one or round 23, that's the same mentality.

"Obviously yes I know what the state of play is in terms of the championship picture, but ultimately the best way of keeping my hopes in as good a shape as I can is trying to go out and win and get the best results I can."

As it happens, his maiden win came here in 2023 in the Sprint.

"I think it's a circuit that I've enjoyed, so I've done well in the past," he said. "I think Vegas was looking reasonable from a pace point of view, just qualifying the end of Q3 didn't go how I wanted and then the race, yeah obviously the race was what it was and a few mistakes in there, but I think the pace when I had clean air to be able to use my pace was pretty good."

Referring to the lack of pace in Las Vegas, he said: "I think we've already found a lot of improvements in those kind of conditions, but obviously here is a much different circuit, much higher speed, very grippy tarmac, pretty consistent, maybe some wind around, but pretty consistent temperatures at least, so yeah hopefully it could be a good weekend."

Meanwhile, teammate Norris regards Piastri as just as big a threat as Verstappen.

"Both are the same I think," said the Briton. "They're both just as good as one another, I know what Max is capable of and I think Oscar is capable of exactly the same as what Max can do. So no, I think both have pros and cons, Max being in a different team and Oscar also being in the same team, but each driver wants to fight for their own thing and prove that they're the best. I think they're both competitive, they're both very strong, they're both incredible drivers and I'm excited to give them a good fight on track."

Asked if the gap to Verstappen is added pressure, Norris said: "No because the gap before was 24 and it's still 24 so my lead is the same. Nothing needs to change.

"I think we were still quick last weekend we would have been even quicker without the issues. I think we know Red Bull have just been quick lately so we expect them to be quicker this weekend we expect them to be good next weekend but there's nothing that needs to change from anyone's side.

"We treated Max and Red Bull as a great team and a great competitor the whole season and that just continues now so no, nothing changes for all of us."