It was a tough weekend to swallow for Oscar Piastri, who finished the Barcelona Grand Prix weekend in fifth place. Over the course of the three days, the Australian McLaren driver never gave the impression that he could fight for a major result. He also suffered in comparison to Lando Norris, who showed strong race pace and maximized his weekend with a podium finish.
Piastri: “Ferrari took steps forward regardless of their upgrades”
While Norris can take comfort in his third-place trophy, the same cannot be said for Oscar Piastri, who had a largely anonymous weekend. After qualifying seventh behind the two Red Bulls, he crossed the finish line in fifth, capitalizing on the retirement of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. “I tried a lot of different things and found myself in just as many issues,” the Australian commented after the race. “I think I struggled quite a lot with grip and obviously tire life. Right now, I don’t have answers, but I’m sure we’ll find them later on. Either way, I was surprised to have struggled so much.”
Piastri’s disappointment was further amplified by the pace his teammate Lando Norris managed to maintain during the Grand Prix. “Lando was able to challenge Mercedes in the race,” he stated. Turning his attention to Scuderia Ferrari, he added: “I think they took a clear step forward this weekend, even without upgrades. They have always been incredibly fast in the corners, and on a day like today, where you needed downforce to protect the tires, I think it was a big advantage. We are always missing that final one to two tenths—or in my case today, a lot more. When you try to search for that extra bit, things get trickier. We need to put the car in a window where it doesn’t always seem to be, and that comes with certain pitfalls.”
“It was tough, I simply didn’t have the pace,” Piastri added in the Montmeló media pen. “The tire condition wasn’t good. So there is a lot to understand regarding this. Hopefully, we can be a bit stronger in Austria.” Just as his teammate declared, McLaren’s task is to make short-term improvements, especially in light of the steps forward taken by their direct rivals. In Barcelona, the Woking-based squad was effectively the third-fastest team on the grid, both in qualifying and the race. “I think we are behind in general. We are one to two tenths off Mercedes and Ferrari,” he reiterated, “and when you try to compensate for that deficit, you pay the price in terms of tire degradation.”
Piastri revisits the Monaco penalty controversy: “An incredibly embarrassing precedent has been set”
Among the topics Piastri addressed with the media was the drama from Monaco two weeks ago, where Pierre Gasly’s penalty was overturned at the start of the weekend following an Alpine protest. “They admitted that something went wrong,” he stated regarding the situation. “But when you have five or six cars penalized, and you remove just one single penalty without the possibility of removing the others as well, it creates a complicated situation for everyone. We lodged an appeal against what happened, but it’s not a matter of points. This sets an incredibly embarrassing precedent, because it incentivizes people not to serve penalties and then argue about them later, rather than having the race results stand exactly as they should be.”
In conclusion, analyzing these unexpected setup difficulties and tire management issues will be vital for Oscar Piastri as he prepares for the upcoming rounds. As top teams like Ferrari and Mercedes continue to unlock performance from their packages, McLaren must quickly address their high-degradation deficits to ensure both cars can consistently fight for the podium in the intensely competitive 2026 constructor battle.
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