Oscar Piastri was interrupted by a fuel system issue during his maiden run in the MCL40 at the Formula 1 private shakedown in Barcelona, McLaren has revealed.
The Woking-based team‘s 2026 challenger debuted at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during F1’s private shakedown on Wednesday.
Reigning World Champion Lando Norris put the car through its paces, during both, the morning and afternoon sessions, completing a little more than a full Grand Prix distance with 77 laps under his belt.
Piastri‘s intended full-day of running, on Thursday, however, did not go to plan as the Australian was consigned to the McLaren garage for the entirety of the afternoon’s session – completing only 48 laps during the opening session.
As it turns out, the 2025 Constructors’ Champions opted to strip down the MCL40 to its bare bones owing to a suspected fuel system issue.
“We’ve got a good understanding of where the car is from a baseline point of view,” explained McLaren Technical Director of Performance, Mark Temple.
“But obviously we’ve had some issues. We’ve not been able to do all the running that we would like. We discovered a fuel system problem.
“The car is very complex, so we decided to bring it back into the garage, strip it down, and fully understand where the problem is coming from.”
Interrupted running has not changed McLaren’s plans with F1 Barcelona test
The private shakedown at Barcelona is the first of three planned pre-season tests for F1’s latest era.
While this first event was scheduled as more of a teething in session where teams could iron out the myriad gremlins expected out of such a drastic rule change, the reliability record has surprisingly been stellar.
Naturally, McLaren, who had to sacrifice half-a-day behind figuring out issues with its car, has lost out on a substantial bit of mileage compared to its rivals.
That said, on paper, Temple insisted that the Woking-based team is hitting its targets with the programme it had designed for the MCL40 this week.
“The most important thing for the drivers this year is to understand how the new car operates, how the power unit interacts, the energy management, all of those things,” he asserted.
“He [Piastri] has got some good references for that. He’s also got a feel for how the chassis behaves.
“We haven’t really got into test items and those kind of things. It’s more understanding the basics and the really big impact of the change from 2025 to 2026.”
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