F1 is back for the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring; Aussie Oscar Piastri did not have the best time this season so far, but with McLaren’s solid track record here, Piastri is hopeful.
Speaking on Thursday, Piastri talked about McLaren’s tactics and struggles ahead of the F1 Austrian GP.
Piastri on the struggles in Barcelona and McLaren’s race record at the Red Bull Ring
The Barcelona-Catalunya GP was surely not one of Piastri’s favourite weekends. The Aussie finished his Sunday on P5, 18 seconds behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. He had a good run in the practice sessions, always landing in the top three.
However, he was struggling with the car’s pace during the race. He was over half a minute adrift of Lando Norris by the end.
“I think on a personal level, yes, I’ve got a good understanding. We’ve done a lot of homework as to why the race in Barcelona was such a struggle for me. I think we’ve got a good idea why and a good plan on how to not repeat that.
“I 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’m hearing along the grapevine that Red Bull have got some big things as well. So, it’s not going to be easy for us.”
Last year, the Papaya duo landed a 1-2 at the legendary Red Bull Ring. Current Champion Lando Norris swept the floor with a dominant weekend. Oscar Piastri missed out on the victory by two seconds.
Despite the euphoric weekend last season, the Aussie noted not to go into the weekend too confident with so much change in 2026.
“Yes, it has been a good track for us in the past, but there’s no illusion for us that we’re suddenly going to be amazing here and the team to beat. We’re definitely not going to be. So yeah, hopefully we can get close and kind of be in the position that we have been in at certain points, where we can capitalise on dramas for others. But yeah, I think to be able to do it on merit or pure pace is going to be a bit of stretch. But I’d like to be happily surprised.”
Piastri reflecting on his fourth season in F1 and the threatening fast competition
The F1 2026 season hasn’t been the comfiest for any team besides Mercedes. Piastri, who had a good run last season, sits as it stands with 68 points to his name in the standings. Just five points above him stands his British teammate Norris in fifth.
The Aussie shared that the team is facing challenges throughout the season, which impacts the Papaya duo’s performance heavily.
“Very up and down, clearly. I think probably a bit more down than it has been up, unfortunately. I think there have been glimpses of good pace. I think there’s been races where we’ve taken advantage of the situations around us and maximised things. There’s definitely been situations where we haven’t, whether it be through mistakes from drivers, whether it be reliability issues, whatever it might be. Yeah, there’s also been plenty of those moments,” Piastri explained ahead of the F1 Austrian GP.
“I think for us as a team, we know that we’re lacking performance, and I think Canada in the race and especially Monaco kind of highlighted where some of our struggles lie, which we’re trying to fix. But we have a bit of a deficit everywhere. We don’t really have any clear strengths where we’re really strong, but we’re not terribly bad anywhere either. So in some ways that’s good, in some ways that’s bad.”
Could McLaren beat Ferrari and Mercedes at the Red Bull Ring?
Mercedes has had a dominant season so far, winning six out of seven Grands Prix. Two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton won his first Grand Prix since joining Ferrari. Both teams are a threatening competition to McLaren, with 262 and 190 in the standings, respectively. The British team in Papaya sits third with 141 points.
With the new regulations, every team is upgrading its package each weekend, Piastri noted that McLaren has to adapt tremendously fast to keep up.
“But yeah, to catch Mercedes and we’ll see whether Ferrari maintain their form as well, we need to put some new bits on the car, we 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’s coming with upgrades quickly. So we know we need to improve.”
Additionally, the heat in Spielberg is taking its toll on the teams with temperatures of more than 30 degrees. Piastri explained that, as the teams are constantly progressing, the F1 Austrian GP isn’t going be a piece of cake.
“I think it will be tough. I think Ferrari obviously brought quite a few upgrades in Barcelona. I think Mercedes as well are still the benchmark, maybe not as far ahead in those conditions, but still the benchmark. Things are changing so quickly. Everyone is learning about their cars a lot every time we drive. Everyone’s changing their cars a lot. So difficult to say,” he shared.
“I think maybe we can get close again, but again, we’re kind of relying at the moment on the others getting it a bit wrong or having things go our way rather than being the ones on the front foot and able to set the pace.”
