Piastri downplays the social media 'incident.'

      "I noticed it when I got up this morning."

      Oscar Piastri's aspirations for the championship are faltering as the Australian's challenging stint at McLaren continues to decline, highlighted by a lackluster performance in the Las Vegas race. Meanwhile, teammate Lando Norris has solidified his status as the favorite for the title. Although Norris didn't convert his pole position into a victory on Saturday night, Piastri fell even further behind, now trailing Norris by a considerable 30 points with only two race weekends left.

      Off the track, the situation worsened when Piastri was questioned about his decision to share—and subsequently delete—Bernie Ecclestone's assertion that McLaren favors Norris for commercial and national reasons. "I don’t know," Piastri responded in Vegas. "I saw it when I woke up this morning. Maybe it was an accident. It clearly wasn’t deliberate. I’m not sure what happened."

      McLaren maintains that the relationship between the two remains positive, yet shared social media content has quietly vanished, and Spain's Diario Sport reported that Norris was not pleased with the Instagram mistake. "It’s obvious that things haven’t been going well for him lately," Norris remarked. "I understand how difficult that can be, but he has crossed a line here, which we will address privately."

      McLaren CEO Zak Brown also sought to mitigate damage after comments in support of his new book described Max Verstappen as an "arrogant bully." As reported by De Telegraaf, Brown quickly reached out to the four-time world champion to clarify that the remarks were "taken out of context." "I referred to him as a bruiser, a fighter—but that's meant as a compliment," Brown explained. "I use the same term for Ayrton Senna, who is my all-time favorite driver."

      In a conversation with Sky Deutschland, Brown shifted the focus back to his own title contender. "I've never seen Lando in such excellent shape, both physically and mentally," he stated. "He seems very relaxed. Perhaps his time away from the championship lead has allowed him to take on the role of the hunter rather than the hunted. He is highly focused, and all of that, combined with his relaxed mindset, really comes together."