Oscar Piastri: The greater the advantage, the better

      When Oscar Piastri, the leader of the drivers' championship, spoke to the press in Monza, he was asked whether he had expressed sympathy to Lando Norris, who retired on lap 66 of the race in Zandvoort due to technical problems.

      Before the Dutch round of the championship the Australian McLaren driver's advantage was only nine points, and now it has grown to 34, which will be very difficult to claw back, given that the teammates are virtually equal in speed and drive identical cars.

      Oscar Piastri: "Of course, seeing such retirements is always unpleasant, but unfortunately it is also one of the sides of motorsport. We didn't have any particular conversation, because whatever I say to Lando is unlikely to improve his situation.

      My approach doesn't change — the way I've approached things all these years has worked pretty well, and I see no reason to adjust anything. My lead has increased, but it can't be considered comfortable.

      The events ahead should unfold according to a fairly simple scenario. Together with my engineers I will continue to work on the car, trying to use its potential to the fullest, but I will also give my all. In general, the approach remains the same whether I'm leading or occupying the back positions.

      I always try to make every possible effort, and I certainly try to find the optimal setup. Although we lead the championship, our car will not become slower, I can say that for sure.

      So nothing will change for me; I don't intend to take fewer risks. I still want the lead to grow even more, because there is still a long way to go until the end of the championship. The bigger the lead — the better.

      Overall, consistency of results is one of the trends characteristic of my career, and I hope it will continue. Of course, to a large extent that depends on the reliability of the car, and I can't influence that, but I'd like to think that when it comes to risk I take a balanced approach. That means that at certain moments it makes sense to be cautious, because that helps avoid trouble.

      And anyway, when you have the fastest car, you start from the front positions, and there aren't that many rivals around, which helps too."