The only real highlight of McLaren’s early season has been Oscar Piastri’s second-place finish in Japan, following a weekend in which the Woking-based team showed clear signs of progress compared to the opening two rounds, where performance had remained largely under the radar.
Just one week before returning to action, the Australian driver outlined his expectations for the rest of the season, also commenting on the recent regulatory adjustments introduced by the FIA, which will come into force starting from the Miami Grand Prix.
What is McLaren still missing? Piastri: “The biggest piece is the chassis”
Where were we? Before the long forced break in April, McLaren had shown noticeable progress in Japan, both in qualifying and race pace, finishing on the podium in second place with Oscar Piastri.
That result marked a clear shift compared to the first two races, which Piastri did not even complete properly from a competitive standpoint, due to a mistake in Melbourne during installation laps and technical issues before the race in Shanghai.
“Mercedes has had a better understanding of the Power Unit, learning more about how to extract its full potential,” Piastri said, reflecting on the opening three Grands Prix.
“However, in Japan, from my side of the garage, we did a very good job of optimising everything, from the power unit to the car. Clearly, we are still quite a bit behind in terms of downforce and chassis performance. I am sure the gap in understanding the engine will reduce a bit, but in Japan the biggest deficit was simply that our car was not as good as theirs. I think that is the biggest piece of the puzzle.”
The return to racing in Miami will therefore represent an important test for McLaren’s MCL40 package, especially on a circuit that has been historically strong for the team, with victories in 2024 for Lando Norris and in 2025 for Oscar Piastri.
With the approach of the 2026 regulation changes, drivers and engineers have had to adapt to many new elements, including the working methodology between driver and engineering team.
“We have spent a lot of energy in unexpected areas,” Piastri told selected media.
“How to manage throttle usage in a qualifying lap, or through a specific sequence of corners; how the battery and the Power Unit behave. A whole set of factors we had never really dealt with before. These are not obvious things compared to what a driver would normally focus on. It is demanding because it is not about pushing the car to the limit straight away, but about experimenting and trying to understand whether you are doing things correctly or not.”
On regulation changes: “The goal is to make things more understandable, FIA and F1 have taken it seriously”
In Miami, revised regulations will be introduced following the issues identified in the first three races of the season. On this topic, Piastri expressed confidence that progress will be made, even if continuous work with the FIA will still be necessary.
“There should be less super clipping, and with the reduction in the recovery limit it should be reduced especially in qualifying,” explained the McLaren driver.
“I think it is definitely a step in the right direction. There will still be some quirks or unexpected situations, and things will still vary from circuit to circuit, but overall we are moving in the right direction.”
While final judgments on the changes will only come once the cars hit the track, the regulation remains complex for fans following Formula 1 from the outside.
“During the winter break I tried to help my friends understand everything, and there were long discussions and many questions,” Piastri revealed.
“I think the goal of these changes is also that people should not need to know how much energy we are recovering, what the regulations are, or what is happening with the throttle mapping. With these power units, however, there is no easy way to simplify the rules, because they are limited in certain ways. It will always be a compromise.”
On the role of drivers in shaping regulations, Piastri added:
“Through the GPDA there have been many discussions. I don’t think it was really up to us to propose changes, but we had some ideas. For us drivers, the two main priorities were making qualifying feel more natural and reducing speed differences in the race in unexpected places.”
Following the FIA’s latest updates, there is clear satisfaction among the key figures in the Formula 1 paddock.
“FIA and F1 took it very seriously and the dialogue has been very good,” the McLaren driver added.
“We will have to wait and see if further changes are needed. If we had ideas for other improvements, they would not be things that can be changed from one weekend to another, but rather year by year or in the long term. I think the FIA has done a good job in recognising our concerns and acting in what seemed to be the most appropriate way.”
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