By Abhishek Takle
ABU DHABI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - McLaren’s Oscar Piastri still hopes he can become Australia’s first Formula One champion in 45 years despite qualifying third and behind his two title rivals for Sunday’s deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old will start one spot behind British teammate and championship leader Lando Norris with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen surging to pole position.
Piastri, 16 points behind championship leader Norris and four adrift of Red Bull’s Verstappen, needs
to finish at least second and results to go his way to follow in the footsteps of his country's 1980 champion Alan Jones.
Norris will win the title if the top three finish as they start.
“Until either Lando or Max cross the line in front of me, I’ve still got a chance of winning the title,” Piastri told reporters after qualifying.
“So we’ll see how the race pans out.”
Piastri, in his third season in Formula One, left the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August looking comfortably on course to win the title -- with a 34-point advantage over Norris and a 104-point gap to Verstappen.
But his season has unravelled over the eight races since and he heads into Sunday facing the prospect of having to help Norris to his first title instead.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown has made it clear he expects whichever of his drivers is not in contention to help the other in the fight against Verstappen, as the Woking-based team bid to secure their first title double since 1998.
Speaking after qualifying, Piastri said he didn’t know what role he might play yet.
“I’m sure we will talk about it, yes,” he added.
Piastri, a Melbourne native, can take some encouragement from history.
Kimi Raikkonen won the title for Ferrari in 2007 having gone into the final race of the season third in the standings.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel similarly clinched the first of his four titles in 2010 despite going into the season finale in Abu Dhabi in third overall.
“I need things to happen in the race to win the championship,” said Piastri, whose manager Mark Webber was teammate to Vettel and lost out to the German in 2010.
“So I’ll wait and see if those things happen.”
(editing by Toby Davis)
