A McLaren left the Austrian Grand Prix of Formula 1 with a result that exceeded expectations, but Oscar Piastri believes the team still needs to make a significant leap to return to contending for victories. According to the Australian, the MCL40 does not exhibit a specific deficiency, but rather requires overall evolution to face Mercedes and Ferrari consistently.
Piastri finished the race in fourth place after starting from seventh and managed to overtake both Ferrari cars at the Red Bull Ring. The result was considered positive by the Australian driver, especially because the team did not anticipate such competitive pace during the race.
“It was a very good race. We managed to execute everything correctly and apply some of the things I’ve learned in the last few weeks. The pace was stronger than we expected, and being able to challenge and beat Ferrari was definitely a positive thing for the team,” he said.
The Australian also stressed that McLaren made the most of the car’s available potential: “I feel we extracted absolutely everything from the car, and that’s a good feeling,” he said.
Despite the encouraging performance, Piastri kept his feet on the ground when analysing the team’s standing in the championship. Crowned both Constructors’ and Drivers’ champions (with Lando Norris) in 2025, McLaren sits only third after eight rounds of the 2026 season, with 159 points, 143 behind Mercedes and 45 behind Ferrari.
Additionally, the team has yet to win a Grand Prix this year. The four podiums—two for Piastri and two for Norris—show that the car can be competitive in certain situations, but it still does not exhibit enough performance to fight for top positions in every race.
For the Australian, the path to closing that gap does not lie in fixing a single issue: “We still need to find more performance if we want to regularly contend for the top three. We do not have a specific weakness area; we simply need more overall performance and more grip to take this next step,” he added.
Piastri assured that the team will continue working to evolve over the upcoming events: “We will keep advancing little by little, and focus on carrying this positive moment into the next races,” he concluded.
