Oscar Piastri left the 2026 F1 United States GP with a P7 finish and a rare positive from a bruising weekend in terms of pace.
The race tested him from the very first lap. Traffic, tyre management and an inconsistent car all shaped his Grand Prix. Piastri made no attempt to hide how hard it was.
“It was slow. I don’t have any more than that at the moment,” he said of the race pace.
Surprised to keep Russell behind
Piastri finished seventh at the F1 United States GP, holding off George Russell across the second stint. The F1 battle that occupied his afternoon was with the Mercedes, not the leaders. He admitted staying ahead caught him off guard.
“I was a bit surprised that I could keep him behind, to be honest. I mean, I’m glad that I could, but obviously I don’t think either of us really want to be battling for 7th. So yeah, just a tricky weekend, but at least that was a bit of a positive.”
The Hadjar incident
Piastri pointed to Isack Hadjar’s pit exit as the decisive moment of his afternoon. The young Red Bull driver emerged struggling for power, almost leading to an accident in Turn 2 as the Aussie took to the run-off.
For a number of laps the driver of car #6 was slow on the straights, befote it became a bit better and he pulled away.
“But I think when [Isack] Hadjar came out of the pits, he looked like he had some kind of issue and his deployment was a bit all over the place. So I was kind of catching him in awkward places and lost a fair bit of time there. And then I was kind of defending from George [Russell] for the rest of the race from that.”
For Piastri, the 2026 F1 United States GP turned on that traffic, and the race slipped away in the seconds he lost. He was blunt about the wider picture.
“But I think on top of that, the pace clearly wasn’t very good. So plenty to try and understand.”
Letting Norris through and an inconsistent car
Asked whether McLaren discussed letting Norris past in the first stint as the Brit was quicker all the weekend, he answered plainly. “Yeah, I did [let him by].”
Beyond the team orders, Piastri described a car that could be fast but was oh so difficult to drive. He said the United States GP exposed that inconsistency of the MCL40 in various corners, a problem he has fought all year. The race distance only magnified it.
“I think we know at the moment that it seemed like a bit of a struggle in various different places. I could kind of fix one place and not another, and it was just a bit of a struggle, to be honest. So I think it kind of just points to how tricky it is to get performance out of the car.
“I could achieve something decent in one lap, but then trying to repeat it was very, very tough. So that’s been the story of the weekend, and in some ways, the story of the year.”
He credited himself with managing the unpredictability better than before, particularly at a circuit where so much can upset the car.
“Similar in some ways, for sure [about the car performance compared to previous races]. I think I’ve been able to tackle some of the struggles that come with this kind of track, where it’s very unpredictable and a lot of things can upset the car.
“I think I’ve done a better job of dealing with it, but clearly there’s still a lot of work to do to really get on top of it.”
Upgrades and the fourth-quickest reality
McLaren F1 brought upgrades to the 2026 United States GP, and Piastri confirmed they worked as intended. The MCL40 still did not become easier to drive, which shaped the race.
“I don’t think we’re massively strong at the moment. Obviously we had a few upgrades this weekend, which are doing what we expect. But clearly, the teams around us are adding performance to the car.
“It looks like Mercedes are much more on top of their upgrades now. The Red Bull is obviously quick, and Ferrari had some upgrades as well. So yeah, we’ve got to keep pushing.
“But yeah, none of these upgrades are really making the car easier to drive, which is our biggest problem at the moment.”
The two-stop that become a one-stop
Piastri pitted early, and the hard tyre changed the plan to a one-stop. It was a robust, quick tyre and the best one on the day.
“At that point, we were planning for a two-stop. Obviously, I pitted pretty early, and the hard tyre was just very strong. So yeah, from there, after 15-20 laps, it felt pretty much the same as it did after the pitstop. So I kind of knew that there was a pretty good chance it would go to the end. And in the end that seemed like a good thing.”
Looking ahead to the rest of F1 2026
Piastri expected a clearer picture in the coming races. He said the 2026 F1 United States GP confirmed McLaren sat fourth, making it an unavoidable truth.
“Hopefully we’re faster, obviously. I think we were pretty clearly the fourth quickest this weekend. Again, maybe if you pulled a lap out of the hat, then you could get yourself in the mix. But yeah, it was incredibly tough.”
