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Piastri says McLaren still struggling to find pace in Austin

Conceptual AI-generated editorial motorsport illustration; not a documentary photograph or evidence that a pictured event, meeting or transfer occurred. · 2026-10-26GPBeat newsroom · News Made Clear generated illustration

Oscar Piastri said McLaren's MCL40 remained difficult to drive despite its potential, after he qualified seventh for the United States Grand Prix. He said the team had tried several approaches without finding a clear fix.

From the GPBeat newsroomPublished · · 1 min

Oscar Piastri qualified seventh for the United States Grand Prix in Austin and said McLaren was still struggling to extract the pace he believed the MCL40 had. He described the car as having the potential to be quick, but said it remained difficult to drive.

Piastri said the struggle dated back to his first lap on Friday. McLaren appeared to have made some progress in Saturday’s qualifying, but he said he and the team had tried several things without finding a fix. They had not expected the changes to make a major difference, he added.

Sources 01
  1. PRIMARY SOURCE‘I just did a c*** job’ – Norris on his Qualifying performanceFormula 1