Oscar Piastri finished fifth in the Mexico Grand Prix, but lost the F1 championship lead to team-mate Lando Norris

Piastri finished fifth at the Mexico City Grand Prix while Norris dominated from pole, leading every lap to reclaim the

Oscar Piastri's lead in the Formula 1 championship is shrinking after a tough weekend in Texas. At the United States Grand Prix, his teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen gained ground.

The conspiracy theorists have gone into overdrive after Oscar Piastri claimed "something weird happened" to his McLaren during the Mexico Grand Prix. But the more popular theory is he simply doesn't perform as well at the tracks that feature in the second half of the F1 season, and isn't as in tune with his car as he previously was.

It carried him 0.262 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who was three-tenths adrift. Mercedes George Russell was fourth and Verstappen fifth while Piastri struggled to qualify eighth. If all drivers finish where they start, Norris will take the world title lead from Piastri.

F1championship leader Oscar Piastri is proving that his personal impact goes far beyond lap times and podiums.

Max Verstappen was fastest in second practice for the Mexico Grand Prix, driving Red Bull’s updated Formula 1 challenger, with championship leader Oscar Piastri down in 12th.

Charles Leclerc was the only driver to briefly challenge Norris’s supremacy when he took provisional pole after the first runs of Q3, but he was soundly beaten on the second runs to end up 0.262 seconds adrift. Lewis Hamilton was just 0.09 seconds slower in third.