Oscar Piastri says he and Lando Norris have been encouraged by McLaren to "stand up for ourselves" after Jos Verstappen questioned whether the Australian driver needed to become more assertive inside the team.

​​​​​Piastri's sixth-month stay at the top of F1's Drivers' Championship was ended by team-mate Norris at the last race in Mexico City, with the Briton now leading the standings by a single point with four rounds to go.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, meanwhile, remains a threat to both McLaren drivers; the reigning champion sitting 36 points behind Norris.

Piastri had appeared the big favourite for the title after opening up a lead of 34 points over Norris and 104 points over Verstappen after winning the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August. However, he has been outscored by both drivers in each of the last five races.

Ahead of this weekend's Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Jos Verstappen, Max's father, weighed in on Piastri's loss of form in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Verstappen Snr suggested that if he was Piastri or the Australian's manager, former driver Mark Webber, he could "bang my fist on the table internally" amid the presence of external questions about whether Piastri was handling the pressure of the title race.

Those comments were put to Piastri on Thursday's media day at Interlagos, with the Australian asked if he was able to stand up for himself against the backdrop of McLaren's 'papaya rules' which are in place to ensure racing equality.

"I think for me, we're always very open with each other in terms of what we think," said Piastri.

"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."

Piastri, whose team have promised to continue their even-handed approach to the Drivers' Championship even if it risked Verstappen pipping either of their drivers to the crown, added: "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."

'Everything is explainable' - Piastri unshaken in belief he can win title

The 24-year-old Piastri was a model of consistency through the season's first 16 races, finishing on the podium in all-but two of them to lead the more-experienced Norris in both the championship and their qualifying/race team-mate head-to-heads.

However, Norris has generally held the upper hand since then, with the Briton's advantage proving especially pronounced at the last two races. Norris finished second to Verstappen in Austin, with Piastri fifth, and then absolutely dominated in Mexico on the way to a 30-second victory, with Piastri finishing a further 12 seconds back in fifth place again.

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has suggested that the low-grip nature of the last two circuits played a key role in Piastri's struggles relative to Norris, with the former having had to work on ways to alter his driving style to generate more pace from the car.

Two weeks on and Piastri, again flatly rejecting wild conspiracy theories on social media, said: "There's not really too many mysteries on what's happened. I think there's questions on why some differences have cropped up in terms of how I need to drive and stuff like that.

"But, everything is explainable, so there's definitely none of that going on."

And despite his recent difficult run, Piastri - aiming to become just his country's third F1 world champion and the sport's fifth youngest - is adamant he can bounce back and claim the crown.

"People can think what they want to think but for me I know that I've still got what it takes to win the championship," he said.

"Yeah, there have been bumps along the road but there have been bumps on the road for everyone this year at different points.

"I'm confident that I've learnt a lot of helpful things from the last couple of weekends in particular and I'm confident I can still perform at some of the heights of the success we've had this year. A lot of laps to go this year and I'm very confident I can still win."

Sky Sports F1's Sao Paulo GP ScheduleFriday November 7

2pm: Sao Paulo GP Practice (session starts at 2.30pm)*
4.30pm: Team Principals' Press Conference
6pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 6.30pm)*

Saturday November 8
1pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint build-up
2pm: SAO PAULO GP SPRINT*
3.30pm: Ted's Sprint Notebook
5pm: Sao Paulo GP Qualifying build-up
6pm: SAO PAULO GP QUALIFYING
8pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Sunday November 9
3.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Sao Paulo GP build-up
5pm: THE SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX
7pm: Chequered Flag: Sao Paulo GP reaction
8pm: Ted's Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1's thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

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