Oscar Piastri hits back after Max Verstappen's dad told him to take drastic McLaren action

Oscar Piastri has insisted that communications between his entourage and McLaren are 'very open' after being told to 'put his foot down internally' by Max Verstappen's father, Jos. The Australian racer is under immense pressure heading into this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

After the first race back from the summer break in Zandvoort, Piastri looked to be cruising towards a maiden Drivers' Championship title with a 34-point lead over team-mate Lando Norris and a three-figure advantage over Verstappen. Since then, however, he has failed to out-score either of his title rivals in the last five race weekends.

The rate and intensity of Piastri's struggles have led to widespread speculation regarding the source of the 24-year-old's difficulties. Ahead of the race at Interlagos, Verstappen Snr suggested that there was something odd about his recent form.

"I find it quite strange what's happening at McLaren," Jos told De Telegraaf. "Surely Piastri hasn't suddenly forgotten how to drive? If I were him or his manager, I'd definitely put my foot down internally. Because now everyone's wondering if he can handle the pressure. And that's not good for your own reputation, Piastri's in this case."

These questions were put to Piastri on Thursday at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, but the Melbourne-born racer opted not to stoke the fire and instead threw his weight behind his team. "I think for me, we're always very open with each other in terms of what we think," he said.

"Whether we think things have been fair, whether we think the right decisions have been made, and from that side of things, we can stand up for ourselves, and I feel very comfortable doing that, and that's very much encouraged by the team to kind of make our point for ourselves individually."

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Piastri continued: "I think it's obviously a difficult dynamic to manage when you've got the two cars in the same team fighting for a championship that only one car can win, that's there's obviously, naturally going to be difficulties with that.

"But, I respect the team, allowing us to both try and fight for the Drivers' Championship. I think for myself, I want to go out there and try and win the championship, knowing that I did it on my own merit and doing the things that I could do in my control.

"And obviously, if you pick one driver, you've got a 50 per cent chance that you're not going to be that driver. So I think for me, we're very much encouraged and welcomed to stand up for ourselves already, so I don't think anything needs to change."