Oscar Piastri has offered a defiant response to critics who say he can’t handle the pressure of the Formula 1 title battle, insisting: “I know I’ve still got what it takes to win the championship.”

The Australian’s championship lead, which had stood at a substantial 34 points after his Dutch Grand Prix triumph in Zandvoort at the end of August, finally evaporated five races later last time out at Mexico City as McLaren teammate Lando Norris’s runaway victory moved him a point ahead in the race.

The deterioration in the previously dominant Melburnian’s form, without a podium in his last four outings, has led to all sorts of barbs aimed at both Piastri himself and the team, with one former world champ Jacques Villeneuve labelling it a “total collapse”.

“It is due to the effect of the pr

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