Oscar Piastri believes that this year's drivers' championship battle is a two-horse race between himself and McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
Piastri's victory at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, as well as a second-placed finish in the sprint race, extended his lead in the standings to 16 points from Norris.
McLaren have kicked on impressively after clinching their first constructors' championship since 1998 last year, having won 10 of the first 13 races of the season.
They have now built up a gap of 268 points between themselves and Ferrari in the team standings, and seem almost certain to retain their crown given their recent dominance.
McLaren have, however, not had a drivers' champion since 2008, when Lewis Hamilton won the first of his seven titles, though that streak appears to be nearing an end.
Max Verstappen was keeping pace with both Piastri and Norris early in the season, and he is one of only two other drivers to win a race in 2025 apart from the McLaren duo.
However, having struggled to finish in the top three in recent weeks, the reigning world champion finds himself 81 points adrift of Piastri with just 10 races of the campaign left.
When asked if Piastri now considers this title fight a two-horse race between the McLaren drivers, he said: "I suppose so.
"I think every weekend now, or the last few weekends anyway, it's been Lando and I.
"I expect our competition to still be strong and put up a good fight, especially at certain tracks throughout the rest of the year.
"But whether that comes from Max or Ferrari or Mercedes or someone else, maybe, we never really know. So, I'm not too concerned about what happens in that.
"I'm just trying to win each race and extend my lead. But, I think clearly, Lando and I are in the same car, which is the best, and he's naturally going to be the closest competition."
McLaren have achieved three consecutive one-two finishes (Austria, Great Britain and Belgium), and only once in history have they achieved four in a row in Formula One, from Mexico to France in 1988 with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
The British team have won 10 races in 2025, their best record in a single F1 season since 2005 (also 10). It is a figure that has only been surpassed twice by them, managing 12 in 1984 and 15 in 1988.
The slight advantage is with Piastri given his buffer over Norris, though the latter does have previous experience in this scenario after finishing second to Verstappen in 2024.
"I think I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it, yes," Piastri affirmed when asked about his chances of a maiden world title.
"Not every weekend has been perfect, but there are not many weekends in my whole life that have been perfect.
"So I think just trying to put together a solid, consistent year is ultimately going to be an important thing.
"But I think the pace in the last few weekends, I think, especially Spa, I've been very confident in and very proud of.
"I think I'm more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year. So yeah, I'm confident that I can do it, but it's not going to be easy."
DRIVERS TO WATCH
Oscar Piastri - McLaren
Fresh from his victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, Piastri returns to a track where he clinched his first-ever triumph in F1, albeit his win was overshadowed by team orders from McLaren that forced team-mate Norris to swap positions in the later stages of the race.
But in addition to repeating his victory at the same track for the first time in his career, he could become the first McLaren driver to achieve two consecutive wins at the Hungaroring since Mika Hakkinen in 1999 and 2000, something that Ayrton Senna also achieved in 1991 and 1992.
And he will be full of confidence after notching his eighth win in the competition last time out. Six of those have come in 2025, becoming the first Australian driver to achieve that many grand prix wins in a single year in F1.
It also kept his remarkable run of scoring points in a race. He has now done so in each of his last 39 races.
Should he do so again in Hungary, he will be the third driver in the history of the competition to finish in the top 10 in 40 consecutive grand prix races, behind Hamilton (48 between 2018 and 2020) and Verstappen (43 between 2022 and 2024).
Piastri's career points haul now stands at 655 following his win at Spa. If he scores at least four points in Hungary, he will surpass Rubens Barrichello (658) as the 19th highest-scoring driver in the history of the competition.
But after winning from second last week, he may want to do the same here. The last four winners of the Hungarian Grand Prix have not started from pole. Esteban Ocon won his only grand prix from eighth in 2021. Verstappen has done so twice, coming from 10th in 2022 and second in 2023, while Piastri also won from second in 2024.
Max Verstappen - Red Bull
Having failed to stand on the top step since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix back in May, Verstappen will be keen to get himself back in contention for the drivers' title here.
Indeed, the Dutchman has now failed to finish on the podium in each of the last six races, his worst streak since another six between Brazil 2017 and Azerbaijan 2018.
The last time he went seven races without a podium finish was in 2017 between Bahrain and Singapore (12), but he often thrives around the Hungaroring track.
Of the drivers currently on the grid, only Hamilton (eight) has managed more wins in Hungary than Verstappen (two), with another win here moving him level with Senna as the driver with the third-most victories in Hungary.
And while rumours continue to circulate about his future with Red Bull, this weekend will see Verstappen contest his 200th grand prix for the team in F1, a record only Hamilton with Mercedes (246) has achieved among all drivers in the history of the competition for the same team.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Drivers'
1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 266
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 250
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 185
4. George Russell (Mercedes) - 157
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 139
Constructors'
1. McLaren - 516
2. Ferrari - 248
3. Mercedes - 220
4. Red Bull - 192
5. Williams - 70
