Piastri: "We are in a position to compete against Verstappen"

Championship leader Oscar Piastri finished 12th in the second practice session in Mexico, trailing his rivals.

However, the McLaren driver said he was not worried about the result when assessing his performance and believed McLaren would be strong over the weekend.

"It wasn't a bad session," Piastri said.

"My lap on soft tyres and low fuel was pretty average, so I'm not surprised by the lap time.

"We tried a lot of things; we'll analyze what worked and what didn't. Overall, I didn't feel bad."

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

"We'll need to make some adjustments for tomorrow, especially improving the consistency of the car is the most important thing."

"We nailed down a few things in Austin, and of course, that weekend was pretty messy. We found a lot of little details that, when put together, make a difference."

"I think we have a pretty good grasp of our situation compared to last week," he said.

When asked if McLaren could challenge Red Bull this weekend, Piastri said: "I think we can. It will be very close as always, but we have a really good car."