Portugal Colonial - Piastri stays calm after winding up 12th in practice

The 24-year-old Australian said he was not too concerned by his place on the time-sheets as he had not delivered a strong low-fuel run on soft tyres in his McLaren during a busy session in slippery conditions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

"It was OK," said Piastri, who has seen a comfortable 34-point lead in the title race disappear over the last five races, leaving him 14 points ahead of team-mate Lando Norris and 40 clear of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who was 104 adrift.

"My lap on softs on low fuel was pretty average... We tried a lot of things and we looked at what worked and what didn't and, overall, I felt reasonable."

He had spent time testing on long runs on soft tyres and suggested that this data would be valuable to him in Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race.

Asked if he felt he could challenge Verstappen, who topped the times ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, he was optimistic.

"Yes, I think so," he said. "It will be tight, like it always is, but we have a good car."

As always, Piastri's demeanour was cool in the heat and thin air of Mexico City's high-altitude circuit and, as he said on Thursday, he was focussed only on himself and the things that he can control.

"Obviously the last few weekends have been tougher than some of the others, but I still feel good. It's tight. It has been tight all season, but as with all these things there are going to be nervous times and pressure."

E.Borba--PC