McLaren’s Oscar Piastri admitted that putting together a complete lap has been “almost impossible”; he said this after he qualified seventh for the 2026 F1 United States GP at the Circuit of the Americas.
Piastri’s best effort of 1:34.803 in Q3 left him 0.768 seconds behind F1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli. Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar completed the top three. Leclerc, Hamilton and Russell will also be ahead of him on the grid.
Lando Norris had set a faster time in Q3 for P6 but it got deleted for track limits, dropping him behind Piastri. At times, the driver of car #1 was significantly quicker than his teammate.
Piastri searches for McLaren’s potential at the 2026 F1 United States GP
Speaking in the print media pen after the session, Piastri explained that the weekend had been difficult from the very first lap of FP1.
“No, it’s been tough from lap one, to be honest. Yeah, just trying to get performance out of the car has been very, very challenging.”
The Australian pointed to Norris, who set the fastest time in Q1, as evidence that the MCL40 was capable of more.
However, he said the gap between unlocking that speed and missing it entirely was substantial. As the Brit showed at stages in practice and qualifying, there was speed in it. Unfortunately for both, the car was unbelievably difficult to drive as the limitations from earlier in the season returned again.
“I think we both kind of felt there is potential in it, but the difference of extracting that potential or not is like half a second difference. So yeah, it’s been very, very tough to get that lap time out of the car,” Piastri said.
“I’ve not managed it at all, but I think when either of us have really pushed the boundaries, we can’t keep it on the track. So it’s been a very challenging one.”
A car that lives on a knife edge
Asked whether the problems had grown worse in recent races, Piastri said they had been present since the opening rounds of the season.
While Norris was the fastest F1 driver in Hungary, Zandvoort and Madrid, the Australian was struggling in all three races. He believes the World Champion has flattered the car at times.
“It’s been from the start of the year, for sure,” he said. “I think we’re probably a couple of tenths off Mercedes and Red Bull. Naturally, as drivers you try and make that up as well. So I think there’s probably a little element of that, but I think the car in general just needs to be driven on a knife edge all the time.”
He added that the layout in Austin makes every small error more costly. If you get deep at Turn 13, for example, it can compromise you until the exit of 16.
“And I think at a track like this, where there’s so many sequences of corners, so many bumps, it really doesn’t take much to go wrong at all for it to go very wrong.
“So yeah, it’s been a season-wide thing. I think it’s what I’ve been trying to work on through the season. I think today I did a reasonable job in the areas that I really wanted to focus on. But just trying to put a lap together has been almost impossible.”
Progress hidden behind a familiar result
Oscar Piastri conceded that his pace in Austin fell short of his expectations. However, he took encouragement from his speed through the types of corners that have troubled him this year.
The main issue is how on the edge the MCL40 is. It is unbelievably difficult to drive this weekend and the drivers cannot trust the car.
“I’ve not been anywhere near as competitive as what I wanted to be. I think in the corners that I thought would be a struggle, and, you know, the types of corners that have been a struggle this year, I think it’s been pretty good this weekend,” he said. “But it’s more just been about trying to get everything in the lap together. That’s been the real challenge.
“It’s a bit of a shame, but I’m not too disappointed in that, because I feel like the areas I’ve been working on are still showing progress.”
