Piastri describes McLaren’s pace swings and praises Norris’s qualifying laps

Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri described McLaren’s 2026 pace as sharply variable: the MCL40 could be a long way off or very fast, with little in between. He said he could not explain the swings. Piastri also said some of the qualifying laps with which Lando Norris put McLaren on pole were better than the car deserved.

Malaysia was another step forward in understanding how to bring the car closer to where he wanted it, Piastri said. He was making progress, he added, but still found the MCL40 less comfortable than he wanted. He also described the 2026 cars as very different and the tyres as quite different.

With six races remaining, Piastri said he did not expect McLaren to find a major answer in 2026. He thought the MCL40 was probably as good as it would get in the short term. Team principal Andrea Stella has said the car’s underlying problems will not be fixed until the 2027 car.

Heading into the United States Grand Prix, McLaren was third in the constructors’ standings on 339 points, seven points ahead of Red Bull.