Oscar Piastri hopes for McLaren ‘2023-spec upgrades’ to close gap to rivals

Oscar Piastri is hoping that some McLaren “2023-spec upgrades” will be on the way for the MCL40, after a low-key start to F1 2026.

McLaren found itself adrift of Mercedes and Ferrari over lap in China, while neither Piastri nor Lando Norris took the Grand Prix start due to pre-race power unit troubles. Piastri is hoping that McLaren can close the gap at Suzuka, but would be surprised if the papaya team can eliminate it.

Oscar Piastri targets McLaren Suzuka progress

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust.

McLaren came into F1 2026 as the defending double champions. But, with the chassis and engine regulations reset, there was intrigue over how competitively McLaren would emerge in this new era.

McLaren remains one of Formula 1’s top teams, but, it is Mercedes and Ferrari which has best utilised the revamped regs at this stage.

Speaking after qualifying at the Chinese GP, Piastri quipped that whatever upgrades McLaren has in the pipeline, he hopes will have a similar effect to those of a few years back.

From operating towards the back of the grid, McLaren transformed itself into regular podium finishers with its 2023 development cycle.

“Hopefully we’ve got some 2023-spec upgrades [laughs].”

The feeling at McLaren was that progress had been made in China with understanding the Mercedes power unit.

It was back in Melbourne that team principal Andrea Stella called out of a lack of information from Mercedes HPP, as its works team excelled, particularly over one lap.

Piastri continued: “I kind of feel like I leave every qualifying session at the moment thinking that we’ve done a pretty good job of maximising the power unit, and then we get back and find there’s a chunk of time that we didn’t realise.

“I think today probably we have done a better job of that. I’d say that everyone’s having the same kind of issues, so I think things are probably evening out a little bit from that side of things. I think having two qualifying sessions on the same weekend helps a lot for everybody with that.

“But yeah, we need some pretty big steps to be in the mix.”

Latest McLaren news from PlanetF1.com

Why doesn’t McLaren just build its own F1 engine?

Norris confident of turnaround after McLaren’s China double DNS disaster

After a free weekend to regroup and crunch the numbers, F1 2026 is back in action this week with the Japanese Grand Prix.

Piastri does not expect McLaren to have worked out how to reel in Ferrari and Mercedes, but hopes progress has been made.

McLaren did not get the chance to test itself in grand prix trim in China. Separate electrical issues within the Mercedes PUs were detected in both cars pre-race. It meant that neither Norris nor Piastri took the start.

“Hopefully we can get a bit closer, but I would be surprised if we can make up all the deficit,” Piastri admitted, looking ahead to Suzuka.

“I think this weekend’s been pretty representative of where we’ve been. We’ve been in a bit of no man’s land as third quickest.

“Hopefully we can close the gap.”

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Charles Leclerc’s unwanted Mercedes pace confirmation as Ferrari upgrades ‘in the pipeline’