Max Verstappen responds to Oscar Piastri's claim that McLaren asked him to support his teammate in the remaining races.

"We had a very brief discussion on it, and the answer is no," the Australian told reporters on Thursday. "I'm still equal on points with Max and I've got a decent shot of still winning it if things go my way, so yeah, that's how we'll play."

When told of the request, Verstappen's response was a little more forthright.

"You can't do a better job than allowing them to race as well, because why would you suddenly now say that Oscar wouldn't be allowed anymore?" the Dutchman told PA. "If that was said to me I would have not rocked up. I would have told them to 'F off'," he added. "If you're a real winner in a race, as a driver, then you go for it, even if you're behind.

"What's the point otherwise to turning up?" he continued. "Otherwise, you can easily just label yourself as a number two driver which I think he doesn't want to be.

"Then for me, I know that I'm equal on points with Oscar. I think it should be like that, that they are free to race and hopefully we can make it a great battle until the end.

"Your dream is to win a championship and that is when the pressure is on," he insisted. "It was the same for me when I was fighting for my first title. You definitely feel more pressure of being in that fight and thinking 'this is my chance' and not knowing if you will get another one.

"People can hide a lot," he continued. "And I would if I was in his position. The pressure of getting it over the line is in the back of his mind. He is more affected by it when someone says something negative but every person is different. I don't care. I am like 'whatever, you can say what you want'.

"When you have won four world championships already, it is amazing and I shouldn't be in the fight really but I am here," he added.

All that aside, not for the first time, the four-time world champion suggested that Lando Norris has made a meal of the championship fight this season and that were he at the wheel of the MCL39 the title would already have been decided.

Asked how he thinks things would have gone were he driving the McLaren, the Dutchman grinned and replied: "We wouldn't be talking about a championship. It would already have been won, easily.

"I mean they won the constructors' championship so early that yeah, you can fill it in yourself."