Oscar Piastri experiments emerge in search for McLaren MCL40 breakthrough

Oscar Piastri says he is “exploring different things” with mixed results as he searches for a breakthrough in his understanding of the McLaren MCL40 in the F1 2026 season.

And he has welcomed the team’s extra effort in helping him find a way out of his current woes, with McLaren throwing more engineering resource behind Piastri.

Oscar Piastri issues McLaren MCL40 progress update at Azerbaijan GP

After falling 13 points short of winning the world championship in 2025, Piastri has struggled under the new regulations in F1 2026.

The Australian has struggled compared to McLaren teammate Lando Norris, the winner of the Hungarian and Dutch grands prix, with Piastri limited to just two podium finishes in Japan and Miami.

Piastri sits seventh in the drivers’ standings entering this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, trailing fourth-placed Norris by 46 points.

Appearing in Wednesday’s press conference in Baku, Piastri revealed that he is experimenting with the car as he attempts to find a breakthrough with the MCL40.

Asked if he feels he is turning a corner with his understanding of the 2026 McLaren, he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “A little bit, yes.

“The progress isn’t linear. You’re always going to find some things that work, go down some paths that don’t work.

“We’re still very much kind of in that phase at the moment.

“I think last weekend [Madrid] the car was quick eventually, but again very, very difficult to get the lap time out of it, so that’s probably the biggest thing.

“But I feel like we’re making progress and at least exploring different things and some are working, some aren’t.

“But we’re not standing still, which is the most important thing.”

Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

Put to him that Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal, is throwing more engineering resource behind Piastri in an effort to help him out of his 2026 woes, Piastri added that the team’s response has been noticeable.

He said: “Yes, I’ve definitely felt that we’re throwing everything we can at trying to improve, which has been good.

“Again, there’s only so many things you can do without just jumping in the car and trying stuff.

“But I think with the limited time we have, you need to have a good idea – or a good set of ideas – that you want to action. You can’t just try random stuff.

“So I feel like it’s been a very good team response in trying to improve things as quickly as we can and feel like I’m being well supported.

“In some ways, every F1 car I’ve driven is a bit different as well.

“Obviously, the regulations for the first three years of my career were the same, but the three cars we had across those three years had some big differences, even in the same regs, and the tyres changed a bit in certain years.

“So things are always changing, even from year to year in the same regulation, and things will change next year.

“So I’m confident that we’re going to make progress.

“It’s very difficult to find a good time because obviously you’re trying to balance, trying to learn and try stuff that might not necessarily be the fastest way around the track with trying to score points and get good results.

“So it’s always a tricky balancing act like that, but I’ve got confidence that I can find a way.

“And we are finding ways. It’s just that some weekends are going to look a bit better than others.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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