SÃO PAULO -- Oscar Piastri insisted he can still turn his flailing Formula 1 title challenge around despite enduring a disheartening day at Interlagos which further strengthened Lando Norris' hold on the championship race.
Piastri crashed out of F1's sprint race on Saturday morning while McLaren teammate Norris won to extend his lead to nine points.
It is not an insurmountable gap, but Norris has a chance to further extend the lead on Sunday after taking pole position for Sunday's main event.
Piastri had been quickest at the start of Q3 but slipped to fourth by the end of the session having only just marginally improved on his time.
"I've still got the belief I can go out and win races and win the championship, but things are not coming as easy as I'd like at the moment," Piastri said after qualifying.
On what he can do from the second row of the grid, Piastri said: "Try and pass a few cars really, that's all I can try and do, try and capitalize on any opportunities that come up and see what happens."
His crash in the sprint race came after he went over a small puddle of water on the curb at Turn 2. The water appeared to have been dispersed onto that part of the track when sprint leader Norris had gone by moments earlier -- a moment Mercedes driver George Russell later joked was like Norris pulling a "Mario Kart" moment in how it impacted his main rival directly behind.
Piastri felt the outcome was disproportionately unlucky.
"I used a little bit [of curb] the lap before had no problems with it," he said.
"Looking back at the lap, I think a couple of the guys ahead also used it and potentially put a bit more water where I went.
"I probably shouldn't have been on that curb anyway but I think the track was in a different state the lap before and clearly I wasn't the only one that got caught out by that, so a combination of a few things but ultimately just one of those things."
Asked if he had been pushing too hard, he said: "I'd say just the normal kind of ramping up, I was a little bit wide but nothing major.
"I took the same line as the cars ahead, certainly one of the cars ahead, and unfortunately the consequences were a lot bigger ... clearly splashed up quite a lot of water when that happened.
"Again, I probably shouldn't have been on the curb, but a bit unfortunate the consequences were so high."
Piastri's challenge has been falling apart around him in recent weeks. Since winning the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, he has seen a 34-point championship lead over Norris evaporate.
He has not finished on the podium since the following race, the Italian Grand Prix. Norris has outscored him at each -- Azerbaijan, Singapore, Austin's U.S. Grand Prix and Mexico City.
Although on paper this looks like a continuation of that run, Piastri said he has been feeling much more comfortable with the car.
"[In] Austin and Mexico there were clearly some things to learn, clearly some things I wasn't very naturally comfortable with I had to adapt to, this weekend certainly yesterday things felt much more normal, from the first lap of practice I felt comfortable, the lap time was coming easily," he said.
"Today was a bit more tricky in terms of the conditions and just trying to get everything out of it, but I don't think there's kind of been the same issues this weekend let's say."
Asked by ESPN if he feels like one strong result might be the catalyst he needs to turn things around, he said: "Not necessarily, ultimately I want to be able to learn what's been lacking in different sessions, and it's not always been the same thing.
"Once I know that and sort that out that's going to give me more satisfaction than if I hang on for a good result or something like that, for me just trying to understand as much as I can, learn as much as I can, is going to be helpful for not just this year but the rest of my career too, so just trying to take any lesson I can and there's quite a few of them at the moment."