Oscar Piastri has rejected McLaren discussions about him helping teammate and overwhelming F1 championship favourite Lando Norris secure the title, adamant he can still earn an unlikely drivers' crown himself.
The Australian admitted before the penultimate Grand Prix of the season in Qatar he still felt he had a "decent shot" of lifting the championship even though he's a distant 24 points behind Norris and only level in second-place with surging champion Max Verstappen.
Yet long-time title frontrunner Piastri, who's been on a wretched run of six podium-free races, revealed on Thursday when asked if McLaren had talked about him playing the team game and assisting Norris: "We've had a very brief discussion on it and the answer is 'no'.
