Click here now.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cBut I think last year was a pretty good showcase of how quickly things can change. We\u2019ve still got a long way to go in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we\u2019re very conscious that we need to improve things and for things to change for us, but I don\u2019t think we should count ourselves out.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we\u2019ve got to do a lot of hard work. Yes, we\u2019ll need a few things to go our way. But we\u2019ve seen reliability issues for everybody across the board and things can change very quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clear part in all of that is if the performance of our car and the competitive order doesn\u2019t change, then yes, we\u2019re not going to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can improve things dramatically like we have done in the last few seasons, then I think anything is still possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piastri described the first part of his campaign as \u201cvery up and down\u201d and admitted there had been more difficult weekends than strong ones.<\/p>\n
The McLaren driver said the team had managed to maximise some opportunities but had also left points on the table through a mix of errors, reliability setbacks and a lack of outright performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery up and down, clearly,\u201d Piastri said when asked about the season so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think probably a bit more down than it has been up, unfortunately. I think there have been glimpses of good pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there have been races where we\u2019ve taken advantage of the situations around us and maximised things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely been situations where we haven\u2019t, whether it be through mistakes from drivers, whether it be reliability issues, whatever it might be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piastri said McLaren\u2019s recent outings in Canada and Monaco had exposed some of the areas holding the MCL40 back, though he suggested the team\u2019s problem was not confined to one specific weakness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for us as a team, we know that we\u2019re lacking performance, and I think Canada in the race and especially Monaco kind of highlighted where some of our struggles lie, which we\u2019re trying to fix,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we have a bit of a deficit everywhere. We don\u2019t really have any clear strengths where we\u2019re really strong, but we\u2019re not terribly bad anywhere either.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo in some ways that\u2019s good, in some ways that\u2019s bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo catch Mercedes \u2013 and we\u2019ll see whether Ferrari maintain their form as well \u2013 we need to put some new bits on the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make it faster, and we need to do it quicker than everyone else, because at this point in the year and this point of the regs, everybody\u2019s coming with upgrades quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we know we need to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piastri denied he was still being held back personally by missing the opening two races, pointing to his runner-up finish in Japan as evidence he was able to quickly get back up to speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Japan, to come back out and finish second there, was a really good result.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there have been some different struggles in the last couple of races.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarcelona in particular, I think I\u2019ve got a pretty good idea of what I would do differently if I was to have that race again, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s really paying the price anymore for lack of experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings are quite different to last year in a number of different ways, but yeah, it\u2019s up to me to be able to adapt to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in certain situations I have adapted very quickly. In others, I haven\u2019t adapted as quickly as I need to.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, still plenty of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piastri said McLaren had done its homework after his difficult Barcelona weekend, though he warned there was little expectation of an immediate turnaround in Austria.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of homework as to why the race in Barcelona was such a struggle for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got a good idea why and a good plan on how to not repeat that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for us as a team here, you know, Ferrari took a good step forward in Barcelona, Mercedes is still the benchmark as well, and I\u2019m hearing along the grapevine that Red Bull have got some big things as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s not going to be easy for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it has been a good track for us in the past, but there\u2019s no illusion for us that we\u2019re suddenly going to be amazing here and the team to beat. We\u2019re definitely not going to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we can get close and be in the position that we have been in at certain points, where we can capitalise on dramas for others.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to do it on merit or pure pace is going to be a bit of a stretch, but I\u2019d like to be happily surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLaren won its first Austrian Grand Prix in 24 years last season, with Norris leading Piastri home in a one-two finish at the Red Bull Ring.<\/p>\n
Piastri will also race in Austria this weekend with a special helmet design, featuring a light blue and green look inspired by sound waves from his car\u2019s engine.<\/p>\n
2026 F1 Austrian Grand Prix \u2013 Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri says McLaren aren’t out of title contention in 2026. Image: XPB Images Piastri arrives at this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,39495,913,806,805,803,804,2333,85],"class_list":["post-760875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-austrian-gp","tag-mclaren","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Piastri](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/XPB_1419063_HiRes.jpg\")