Oscar Piastri has admitted that McLaren is not “the favourite” for this weekend’s F1 2026 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Piastri added that the team would likely have been “probably in the midfield or at the back” if it had arrived in Melbourne with the same car it used at the start of pre-season testing, highlighting the rapid development pace of the MCL60 over the winter.
“Of course, we still need to find a bit more performance with the MCL40,” Piastri said, acknowledging that while the upgrades have improved the car, further progress will be necessary to challenge the frontrunners.
The comments underline how the 2026 regulation changes — including fully sustainable fuels, hybrid power units, and active aerodynamics — have required teams to evolve quickly just to stay competitive at the top of the field.
Oscar Piastri has emphasised that there is still “so much potential unexplored” in the 2026 cars, highlighting McLaren’s significant gains with the MCL40 over the course of pre-season testing.
Under the new F1 2026 regulations, a high development rate is expected, and McLaren has historically excelled in in-season upgrades. Asked about his chances in Melbourne, Piastri told :
“The honest answer is I have no idea. I think, based off testing, we seem like we’re in the mix at the front. I certainly wouldn’t be saying that we’re the favourite to be winning.
I don’t think the picture looks quite as positive for us at the moment as it did 12 months ago, but the big caveat for everyone is there’s so much potential still unexplored.
Even through testing, the amount of stuff we learned, the performance we gained through six days, if we had turned up here with the car from day one, we’d probably be in the midfield or at the back.
Getting on top of things early is going to be important. Melbourne is a very different circuit to Bahrain or Barcelona, both in layout and in the challenges it presents for the power units.
So we’re in the mix, but we need to find a bit more, I think.”
Piastri’s perspective aligns with McLaren chief executive Zak Brown, who said during Bahrain testing that Ferrari and Mercedes are expected to start the season as favourites, with McLaren and Red Bull close behind.
“I think we’ve produced a good car. We’ll be in the big four. I don’t think we’re at the front of the big four, but it’s going to be a long season with a lot of development. We’re still learning, but we’re in a good starting position. The red guys and the silver guys are looking very strong. And I don’t think we’ve seen everything yet at Red Bull. But we’re definitely in the top four.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella echoed that assessment, describing Mercedes and Ferrari as “a step ahead,” with Red Bull and McLaren evenly matched after testing.
Piastri’s cautious optimism underlines the challenge of translating pre-season gains into results under the new 2026 regulations, while also highlighting the team’s potential for further performance development as the season unfolds.