Piastri says he must 'manhandle' McLaren's 2026 car to find its limit

Oscar Piastri says he has to “manhandle” McLaren’s 2026 car to extract performance: it does not naturally do what he wants, and finding its limit is exceptionally difficult.

“You've got to manhandle the car a bit,” Piastri told media, including RacingNews365. He said he has to drive at “100%, or what feels like about 110%” both to be quick and to get the car to do more of what he wants.

His reference point is McLaren’s 2025 car. Piastri said he could “listen” to it more readily and that it had natural pace; at times, he felt it could be driven more easily and still be just as quick at 110% effort.

Compared with the high-downforce ground-effect cars of 2025, the 2026 cars are smaller and lighter, twitchier through corners and demand constant small steering corrections. Piastri, a smooth and precise driver, has taken time to adapt to the new cars.

Piastri has also endured a difficult run of results: he has not been on the podium since the 2026 Miami Grand Prix in May, 17 races ago, and his average finishing position across his 15 finishes since then is 7.1. Lando Norris, by contrast, has taken four pole positions and won three grands prix in the same span, including São Paulo last time out.

Piastri says the McLaren can be a race-winning car if its problems are sorted out.