Oscar Piastri put a brave face on his fading Formula One hopes on Saturday, recognizing it would take something significant to deny McLaren teammate Lando Norris the title.
The Australian finished fourth in Las Vegas with Norris second and stretching his championship lead to 30 points with two grands prix and a sprint worth a maximum 58 points remaining.
Briton Norris has beaten Piastri in the last seven races and is on course to take the crown in Qatar next weekend.
At the end of August, when he won the Dutch Grand Prix, Piastri was 34 points clear of Norris but has since suffered a devastating 64-point swing and has not been on the podium in the last six races.
"Obviously I need more than that now," Piastri told Sky Sports television when asked if he felt he could cut Norris's lead in Doha.
"I'm just going into the next two weeks trying to be as prepared as I can and have the best weekends I can.
"It would be nice to get some good results on the board to finish the year. The championship picture is what it is. We'll see what I can do."
Piastri started fifth on Saturday, with Norris on pole position, but dropped to seventh at the first corner after contact with Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls.
He fought back to fifth, which became fourth at the chequered flag when Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli had five seconds added for a jumped start.
"There's not much to say. I felt like I was one of the only people that actually braked just to make the corner and got barged out of the way and apparently that's fine," Piastri said of the opening lap.
"It is what it is. I think the rest of the race was eventful after that as well, a few too many mistakes."
The race was won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who is now only 12 points behind Piastri in the standings.
"From start to finish just felt like there were some tough moments through the race. In clean air we were really quick but difficult before I got the clean air and difficult after it ran out," said the Australian.
"Just little lock-ups here and there and that was it really. This may not be my favorite circuit of the year, but I've got plenty of tracks that aren't my favorites that have been good this year. I don't think it's anything to do with that.
"Just a pretty bad start, took a while to find the rhythm and then just got stuck behind Antonelli for a long time as well."
