After securing P3 in qualifying for the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Oscar Piastri was satisfied with the result, given McLaren’s difficult start to the weekend.
McLaren brought an upgrade package to Baku, but the team struggled with inconsistent performance across practice sessions on a track not well suited to the strengths of their car. Despite the struggles, Oscar Piastri delivered a strong qualifying performance in Azerbaijan, with only 0.001 seconds separating him from Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc on the front row.
Speaking in the official press conference following qualifying for the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Piastri was satisfied with his performance in light of McLaren’s difficult start to the weekend.
“Yes, it’s been not an easy weekend, for sure, from a few areas. You know, we’ve not been particularly quick. We’re also running cable ties on our car through Friday, which is never a great sign. So, it’s been a little bit of a tricky one for us.”
Piastri on the MCL40 becoming “alive” in qualifying
Not for the first time this season McLaren struggled to extract the potential of the car during practice only to show decent performance in qualifying, which Piastri attributes to the car feeling more “alive” on low-fuel. Given the struggles, Piastri was “happy” to finsh qualifying for the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP in P3.
“But it’s not the first time this year, I feel like, that we get to qualifying, we take all the fuel out and the car just comes alive more.
“You know, clearly compared to George and Mercedes, we’re still a long way off. But, yeah, it’s certainly not the first time where we get to qualifying and things look a bit brighter.
“So, happy with how we’ve tried to evolve this weekend. It’s certainly not been easy to get the most out of this car around here with how much you have to push and, obviously, the consequences. So, to end up P3 is a really good result.”
McLaren’s struggles
During recent rounds, Piastri struggled, while McLaren teammate Lando Norris battled for wins. With the performance in qualifying for the 2026 F1 GP, Piastri appears to have made a step forward. When questioned about it, the McLaren driver responded:
“Yes and no,” explaining that the team’s performance this weekend had been quite inconsistent, similar to competitors over at Ferrari. While the McLaren might not be the best suited car for the Baku City Circuit, Piastri believes that on low-fuel runs, like in qualifying, it becomes “easier” to extract performance from the car, adding that he was “pretty happy” with the lap that earned him P3 in qualifying for the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
“I mean, similar to what Charles said, to be honest, I think some laps here and there have been strong, but it’s been a lot in between that haven’t been very strong.
“I feel like we’ve been reasonable at points, but, yeah, you know, our car needs some specific things, and trying to find those things on a street circuit is really tough. And again, I think in qualifying we just come alive a little bit more, everything becomes a little bit easier and it’s a bit easier for us to get the pace out of the car.
“But, no, on a personal level I feel like we’ve been building up well and, yeah, was pretty happy with my lap in Q3.”
Piastri on McLaren’s tyre strategy in 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying
Over the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP weekend, low tyre degradation was evident across the grid, leading many teams to stay on the same compound for qualifying. Heading into qualifying with five fresh sets available, McLaren executed Q1 on a single set. In Q2, the team opted for a different strategy, mounting a used set for the second run, which Piastri says also came from not having enough time left to do a “warm-up lap.”
“We considered it,” said the McLaren driver about the prospect of using only a single set for the final shootout in Q3.
In the end, McLaren used two sets in Q3, and Piastri climbed to P3 on his final run on a fresh set of soft tyres. It proved to be the right call, as the Australian missed out on a front-row start by just 0.001 seconds.
“I mean, it was unclear for us as well what we wanted to do. I think Q2, we went back out on the used set of tyres and didn’t need a warm-up lap, and we were good to go and we improved. So I think we kind of just committed to…
“We managed to do a warm-up lap on the first set, which was good, but we knew we didn’t have time for that on the second set. But I think after that second run of Q2, we were relatively confident that we could at least nearly make it work. And we, you know, we didn’t really have any other option than to make it work.
“So I think for us that was a good idea.”
Piastri expects a close fight for the final podium positions behind Mercedes
When asked about his chances for tomorrow’s race and whether he believed he could challenge Russell, who dominated qualifying for the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Piastri joked:
“If he’s got a tow bar that I can hook onto the back of, maybe.”
Although the Australian was unsure whether McLaren could challenge George Russell’s Mercedes, he was encouraged by the race pace in practice, which appeared to be on par with his competitors. Piastri therefore expects a tight battle for the positions behind the two Mercedes.
“But we’ll see what we can do. I think the Mercedes look incredibly quick here, but I think everyone else looks like they’re in a similar-ish kind of pack.
“And our race pace looked pretty good yesterday, to be honest. So, yeah, I think we can hang on and battle in the pack behind George and, yeah, see what lap Kimi starts coming through as well.”
