Oscar Piastri has suggested that McLaren is close to bridging the points gap to Mercedes, following an impressive showing at the Hungarian GP.
His teammate, Lando Norris, secured a consecutive second-place finish at the Hungaroring, only a couple of weeks after he closely contended with Max Verstappen at the British GP.
Piastri meanwhile, has been improving throughout the course of the season – he finished fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
This came on the back of him narrowly missing out on a podium spot to Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone – by less than a second.
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When asked if McLaren were Red Bull’s biggest threat, Piastri said: “I think it’s close with Mercedes at the moment.
“I think in Silverstone, I would agree we were Red Bull’s biggest threat, threat is still a big word to Red Bull. But we were the closest to them.
“I think in Budapest it was very even between us and Mercedes.
“They were very strong both over one lap and especially at the end of the race. I think Lewis (Hamilton) was incredibly quick.
“It’s been tight with us two teams, in the fight for the second-best.
“Ferrari and Aston are back in the fight even if they’ve been slower than us in the last couple of weekends – it still went very close and it doesn’t take much to get back there.
“We’ll see who we’re fighting but hopefully it’s someone at the front.”
Asked about his personal development over the year, Piastri reflected on recent improvements in his performances.
He said: “I think Silverstone was a very strong weekend for myself. I was very happy with that race.
“In Budapest, there were a few areas I could have improved, I didn’t quite nail qualifying at the end.
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“In the race, a very good first stint and start, I gave myself every opportunity to try and finish at the front.
“I struggled a little bit with time management, had a bit of damage as well which obviously didn’t help. There’s been a lot to learn from Budapest.
“I don’t know if it’s been an immediate click in the last couple of races, but definitely I feel that there have been a strong couple of performances for podium finishes.”