Piastri: McLaren would ‘probably be in the midfield or at the back’ with Barcelona-spec MCL40

Oscar Piastri has admitted that McLaren is not “the favourite” to win this weekend’s F1 2026 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

And he says the team would have been “probably in the midfield or at the back” of the grid if it arrived in Melbourne with the same car with which it started testing, such has been the high development rate across pre-season.

Oscar Piastri: McLaren ‘need to find a bit more’ performance with MCL40

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McLaren enters the new season as the reigning constructors’ champions after a dominant 2025.

As well as retaining the team’s title last year, McLaren won the drivers’ crown for the first time since 2008 as Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris secured a maiden world championship.

Despite ultimately finishing third in the standings, Piastri ended the season on the same number of victories – seven – as Norris.

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The new MCL40 car enjoyed an encouraging pre-season with McLaren widely believed to be in the mix at the front with the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Piastri has conceded that McLaren’s situation is not quite as rosy as it was ahead of the first race of last season.

Yet he insisted that there is “so much potential still unexplored” in the 2026 cars, pointing to McLaren’s massive gains with the MCL40 over the course of testing.

A high development rate is expected under the new rules for F1 2026, with McLaren excelling in the area of in-season development over recent years.

Asked if he can win this weekend, Piastri told PlanetF1.com and other select media in Melbourne: “The honest answer is I have no idea.

“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.”

Piastri’s comments align with the assessment made by Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, during pre-season testing in Bahrain last month.

Appearing in a press conference at the final test in Sakhir, Brown admitted that Ferrari and Mercedes are set to start the new season as the favourites with McLaren and Red Bull close behind.

He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I think we’ve produced a good car. I think we’ll be in the big four.

“I don’t think we’re at the front of the big four, but it’s going to be a long season with a lot of development.

“We’re still learning, but I think we are in a good starting position.

“But I think the red guys and the silver guys are looking very strong. And I don’t think we’ve seen everything yet at Red Bull.

“But I think we’re definitely in the top four.”

His comments were echoed by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who described Mercedes and Ferrari as “a step ahead” with Red Bull and McLaren evenly matched after testing.

Additional reporting by Mat Coch

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