Oscar Piastri spots ‘unpredictable’ Malaysia curveball in McLaren progress update
Oscar Piastri has detailed his battle getting to grips with the latest generation of F1 cars.
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is eager to get a first taste of F1 2026 machinery in the wet, with rain expected across the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
F1 has managed to avoid the rain so far this season despite seeing wet weather forecast on a number of occasions.
Oscar Piastri gives verdict on Malaysia rain potential
F1 drivers and fans have been longing to finally get some wet weather action this season, after being teased in Zandvoort by rain that had largely dried ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, and the Miami round being pulled forward to avoid a storm.
Already this weekend, on-track action has defied the odds, with FP2 starting under dark clouds and with a 90 per cent chance of rain, only for a completely dry session to unfold.
With the changes for 2026, a wet track sees a number of changes made to the car, including the straight-line mode active aerodynamics being restricted or deactivated.
Crucially, the electrical element of the power unit is also reduced to 250kW.
“I don’t know exactly how much deployment we have,” said Piastri.
“Obviously, the deployment is capped to lower power in the rain, which I can’t remember where we had a threat of rain.
“But at some circuits, you actually have full deployment on all the straights in the rain. I don’t think here will be one of them, but I don’t think it will be too bad.
“It’s just the unpredictability with the power units in the way you get power.
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“Sometimes you don’t necessarily want to deploy the max amount of power, but at a certain throttle percentage, there are some rules that kick in, and you can get unexpected amounts of power, but I don’t think that’ll be too much of a problem.
“And I think I agree that if there’s any circuit you want to want to drive, and if one of these cars in the rain for the first time here is probably not a bad place for it.”
Piastri was sixth fastest in FP2 on Friday, 0.371 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in third.
Assessing his day one running, the Australian added: “I don’t know if things have started suiting me, but I’ve been able to find a way to make things work a bit better.
“I think today looked a bit better. The long run seemed pretty good, and in the qualifying runs, I seemed reasonably comfortable.
“And I think now I know a bit more of what I need from the car. And unlocking that feeling was difficult.
“I feel like I’m getting there slowly now, but it’s still a difficult process. So we’re still working on it.”
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