Oscar Piastri has been frank about McLaren‘s current chances of Formula 1 success in 2026, as the team looks to defend both World Championship titles.
The Woking-based squad cleaned up in 2025, with the Constructors’ Championship retained as early as Singapore, and Lando Norris claiming the Drivers’ crown at the season finale.
Piastri’s own challenge fell away, despite having been 34 points clear at the top of the standings in August, finishing third behind Norris and Max Verstappen.
The MCL39 was always going to be a hard act to follow, especially with F1’s shift into its new increasingly-electrified new technical regulations reset for 2026.
But the MCL40 appears to be very much close to the front of the pack, with Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari all looking strong in pre-season testing.
However, Piastri is still working on educated guesses to know exactly where he thinks himself and McLaren will be, but recognised that McLaren has made big strides since Barcelona ‘Shakedown Week’ in January.
“The honest answer is I have no idea,” he said when asked where he thinks the team will be.
“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 I think the big caveat to that for everyone is there’s so much potential still unexplored.
“I think, even through testing, the amount of stuff we learned, the amount of performance we gained through six days of testing, if we had turned up here with the car we had at the first day of testing, we’d probably be in the midfield or at the back, to be honest.
“So getting on top of things early is going to be important. Melbourne is going to be a very different circuit to especially Bahrain, but even Barcelona where we’ve tested from just a layout point of view, but also some of the challenges that presents for the power units.
“So it’s going to look pretty different, how we have to drive the cars, from any other circuit we’ve been to.
“But to answer your question: we’re in the mix, but we need to find a bit more, I think.”
What Motorsport Week thinks: McLaren has scope to challenge…eventually
From what observations were made in pre-season testing, McLaren, as Piastri said, have indeed come on leaps and bounds since Barcelona.
But, it’s clear that, despite possessing that much-maligned Mercedes power unit, it’s still behind the works team in terms of overall performance.
One of McLaren’s biggest strengths in 2025 was its long run pace. The indications given from Bahrain, in comparison to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, it is now an Achilles’ heel.
It’s clear that Rob Marshall has designed another good car, but right now, that appears to be all it is.
But with the landscape of 2026 set to change given the learnings taken by teams during the year, there is reason to be optimistic in terms of the broader picture, provided you’re wearing papaya.
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