{"id":839757,"date":"2026-08-01T05:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839757\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:41:13","slug":"mclaren-gain-early-advantage-over-rivals-with-portimao-f1-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839757\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren gain early advantage over rivals with Portimao F1 test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have completed a TPC test for McLaren<\/a> at Portimao; the rumoured venue for the 2026 Formula 1<\/a> season finale.<\/p>\n

With the Middle East conflict not easing up, rather escalating, F1 is facing a tough proposition with its 2026 calendar. <\/p>\n

After the cancellations of the Saudi Arabian and Bahrain races in April, speculation was rife about potential replacements for these events, or whether this season would only sport 22 rounds.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, however, it was announced that while the Sakhir International Circuit will not be hosting a Grand Prix this season, the Bahrain GP would in fact be reinstated \u2013 at the Sepang International Circuit, historically the venue of the erstwhile Malaysian GP. <\/p>\n

While this has bumped the number of confirmed races up to 23, the Qatar and Abu Dhabi GPs are still in danger of being axed given the recent escalations in the region. <\/p>\n

With the season finale slot now seemingly vacant, Portimao has cropped up as a potential replacement to hold the final race of 2026 as the Portuguese GP.<\/p>\n

This came as a welcome surprise for the Woking-based squad \u2013 having planned a TPC (Testing of Previous Car) test for Norris, Piastri and reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli, for this week, a long time before the Algarve Circuit<\/a> was ever in the 2026 F1 calendar conversation.<\/p>\n

Naturally, for McLaren, getting its first laps in at Portimao, for the first time since 2021, before any of its rivals will be a handy advantage it will carry if the race goes ahead, especially in terms of correlation, setup and acclimatisation.<\/p>\n

The trio completed a sum total of 151 laps with the MCL60 on Wednesday, with Norris calling it a \u201cproductive\u201d day for McLaren.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a productive test for us, and it was good to be back in Portimao,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis was where I drove an F1 car for the very first time, so it\u2019s a special track for me. It\u2019s also one that\u2019s enjoyable to drive, with some fun, challenging corners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to complete everything we wanted and add some valuable mileage. It\u2019s a good way to sign off for the summer break.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"F1F1 last raced at the Algarve circuit in 2021<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri lauds McLaren\u2019s \u201cinteresting\u201d Portimao F1 test<\/p>\n

Piastri has endured a difficult European leg of the season, culminating <\/a>in an excruciating loss\u00a0despite leading the majority of the race at the Hungarian GP last weekend.<\/p>\n

And unlike Norris, the Australian had never driven an F1 car around the undulating and technical Algarve track. <\/p>\n

The McLaren driver will, therefore, be quite pleased with the chance to test a relatively recent and comparable package on the track before he takes to the simulator for a potential race weekend, if it materialises.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my first time driving the F1 circuit in Portimao,\u201d Piastri said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe changing conditions made it an interesting place to drive, and the elevation changes made it really fun. We got through the entire programme we set out to do, and the team are happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good point to pause for the summer shutdown. It\u2019s been a pretty intense season for us, so it will be nice for everyone to switch off before we get back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

F1 returns after the summer break for the Dutch GP at Zandvoort, late in August. <\/p>\n

As far as the fate of the remaining Middle Eastern races are concerned, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has set September as the deadline to make the decision, with Imola also being suggested as a close competitor to Portimao to take the season finale slot away from Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Andrea Stella defines key decider in F1 2026 season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have completed a TPC test for McLaren at Portimao; the rumoured venue for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,591,590,592,82],"class_list":["post-839757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lando-norris","tag-mclaren","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}