Oscar Piastri's championship lead is thinning after missing out on a podium spot yet again at the U.S. Grand Prix. He says he doesn't want McLaren to give him preferential treatment over his teammate and rival Lando Norris.

Austin

Oscar Piastri experienced a difficult weekend at the Texas Grand Prix, resulting in his lead in the Formula One Drivers' Championship being cut from 104 to 40 points over Max Verstappen. Piastri, who finished fifth while his teammate Lando Norris secured second place, now faces increased pressure with only five races remaining in the season. 

Despite the narrowing margin, Piastri has stated he does not want preferential treatment from his McLaren team over Norris, emphasizing both drivers' right to compete for the title. The McLaren team is working to understand the issues that affected Piastri's performance, as the championship battle intensifies ahead of the next race in Mexico.

Oscar Piastri's lead slashed after another Grand Prix loss

Weekend to forget in Texas for Oscar Piastri. It wasn't the easiest of weekends, but that team ought to go. The Aussies' points buffer is fading fast, but he doesn't want preferential treatment from McLaren over teammate Lando Norris to end the season. I don't think so. You know, we're still so incredibly tied and we've both said we wanted an opportunity to try and fight for the championship because we deserve it. It's a decision which could prove crucial in the title fight, with Max Verstappen now dominating in his Red Bull. Four races ago, the Dutchman trailed Piastri by 104 points in the Drivers' Championship. He still sits third in the standings, but the margin's been slashed to 40 points with five weekends left. The gap's not been comfortable at any point this year, really. At no point has it felt like I could relax or sit back, so my mentality hasn't changed. The chance is there. A disastrous weekend for McLaren included a sprint race crash. Just 14 points now split Piastri and Norris in the championship race. Norris passed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc with a handful of laps left to finish second, while Piastri settled for fifth, leaving Formula One's championship leader searching for much-needed answers ahead of this weekend's trip to Mexico. Trying to work out why I just didn't gel with the car this weekend is the first port of call, I guess. He hasn't forgotten how to drive. No, we know that. Yeah, that's the thing. But he'll be driving around going, why can't I drive this car like my teammate can and like I could before? Jonathan Simon, 10 News.

Amazon.com cloud service returned to normal operations on Monday (October 20) afternoon, the company said, after an internet outage that caused global turmoil among thousands of sites.

Amazon says AWS cloud service back to normal after outage

Japan's parliament has elected the country's first female leader. Sanae Takaichi, 64, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is seen as a hardline conservative who supports traditional gender roles and hawkish foreign policy.

Tokyo

Sanae Takaichi elected Japan's first female prime minister

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Washington

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Ex-FBI director James Comey seeks to toss indictment

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Portland

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Washington County

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AWS outage mostly resolved after hours-long global disruption

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La Paz

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Beirut

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Kowloon

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Paris

‘Priceless’ jewels stolen from France’s Louvre Museum in four-minute heist

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Bogotá

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Tel Aviv-Yafo

Middle East Conflict

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Chicago

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Beijing

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Doha

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Windsor

Prince Andrew gives up title of Duke of York

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Ukraine Invasion

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Caracas

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Kipnuk

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Breakdown