Oscar Piastri is scratching his head as to why he’s struggled to maximise the McLaren Method 1 bundle in comparison with team-mate Lando Norris.
The reigning world champion has received the final two grands prix – Budapest and Zandvoort – from pole because of a heavily-upgraded MCL40, whereas Piastri has suffered a DNF and completed sixth.
It has left Norris fourth within the standings and 55 factors forward of seventh-placed Piastri, who additionally trails his team-mate 13-4 of their qualifying head-to-head (dash races included) this yr.
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So the Australian has actually been second greatest and he’s with no podium since Miami in Might, whereas his final win got here at Zandvoort final August – when he appeared like a champion-in-waiting.
“Sadly it is not the primary race the place the tempo simply hasn’t been there,” mentioned Piastri on Sunday. “Lando has simply received the race [by] rather a lot, so I believe the automobile is in a great place.
“It has been fast the final two weekends. I believe these two tracks swimsuit the automobile nicely. It is only for no matter purpose, I’ve not been capable of get the tempo out of it.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photograph by: Eric Le Galliot
However one shouldn’t be too shocked by Piastri’s struggles in 2026, as a result of he’s now having to take care of a lower-grip automobile on account of downforce ranges lowering below the brand new guidelines.
It’s in low-grip circumstances the place the 25-year-old notoriously struggles, as Piastri’s title bid collapsed in direction of the tip of final season at tracks like Baku, Singapore and Mexico Metropolis.
So he’s needed to adapt greater than most and though there’s nonetheless been glimpses of his potential, like topping SQ2 and Q1 at Zandvoort, others have discovered that edge for when it issues.
“Within the driving model, there clearly have to be one thing,” mentioned Piastri, when requested the place he lacks in comparison with Norris this season.
“I believe in qualifying this weekend I felt rather more comfy and thru Q1 and Q2, okay, Q3 I did not fairly maximise it, however I used to be there within the struggle.”
The Australian certified fourth, 0.142s off Norris and 0.040s and 0.009s behind Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, respectively.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photograph by: Eric Le Galliot
“Within the race, the story simply wasn’t the identical in any respect,” added Piastri. “So, yeah, I believe that is the largest distinction.”
Sunday’s race noticed Piastri overtake Russell at Flip 7 for third on lap three earlier than dropping again to fourth on lap 19 on account of a gradual 5.4s pitstop.
From then on Piastri simply struggled for tempo as Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton additionally overtook him and he finally completed 32 seconds behind Norris.
When McLaren boss Andrea Stella was requested to clarify Piastri’s woes, the Italian mentioned: “I do not assume it has something to do with any psychological sort of alternative – that is purely technical.
“This weekend really we noticed Oscar expressing aggressive lap occasions and I believe within the race there have been two components that affected Oscar.
“One was the very fact, and this can be a group duty, that once we pitted to cowl Russell, really we misplaced the place to Russell due to a gradual pitstop and that is as much as the group.
Oscar Piastri and Andrea Stella in Hungary
Photograph by: Andy Hone/ LAT Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
“Then this second stint on laborious tyres, we weren’t capable of swap these tyres on. They stayed completely in a regime of very, very low grip, which we did not see within the first stint.
“So there’s a few issues that we have to work on. However I might additionally add to this that we’re in a section of Method 1 wherein we’ve got at the very least three groups which are inside one tenth of a second.
“As quickly as issues are usually not optimised, then you will have a really important positional loss. So in case you’re not optimised, now you’re P6.
“It’s totally brutal from this standpoint, so I believe we simply must hold working with Oscar on all of the alternatives and I am proud of the enhancements that I’ve seen throughout this weekend.”
Further reporting by Filip Cleeren and Ronald Vording
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