Piastri: McLaren’s Current F1 Car Demands Aggressive Driving to Unlock Its Potential

Oscar Piastri says McLaren’s latest Formula 1 car must be “manhandled” to extract performance, describing the MCL40 as a machine that punishes drivers the instant they fall off the limit.

The Australian has endured a difficult season after contending for the championship last year. With two podiums in Japan and Miami, he sits seventh in the drivers’ standings with three races remaining.

Speaking to media in Brazil, Piastri was asked to describe what the car demands on every lap.

“The best way to describe it is, I don’t even know if this is politically correct anymore, but you’ve got to manhandle the car a bit. It’s not a car that naturally does all the things you want, and it’s rare that there is a car that does everything that you want,” he said.

“But it just seems like this year’s car in particular—you really have to drive it at 100%, or what feels like 110%, to be quick, first and foremost, but also to get the car to do more of what you want.”

Piastri believes the car possesses genuine speed if it can be unlocked, but insists that finding its limit remains the core challenge.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

“When you’re able to put it on that limit, it has a lot of potential. The car can be a race-winning car if you manage to sort it out, but just finding that limit is incredibly tough,” he explained.

He compared the current challenger with last year’s title-winning car.

“Often you could drive it a lot easier and be just as quick,” he said. “Whereas this year’s car, as soon as you’re not at 100%, you lose a lot of time very quickly.”

Piastri also acknowledged that McLaren has lost its development edge. He described the team’s rate of progress as “pretty reasonable,” but suggested Red Bull has likely been the benchmark this season.

“We’ve not been the benchmark this year like we have in the last couple of years, so that’s definitely our aim—to try and improve that,” he said.

Asked whether he still enjoys driving, Piastri was candid.

“Definitely not as much as in previous years, but yes, there have definitely been some highlights this year. There have also been some lowlights,” he said. “A bad day at a race track is often still better than a lot of good days in other walks of life.”

With three races left, Piastri is seventh in the drivers’ standings with 152 points. McLaren is fourth in the constructors’ standings with 398 points. Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes have already clinched the drivers’ and constructors’ titles.

Source link