Oscar Piastri has been given a stark McLaren warning as Norris pulls ahead

Oscar Piastri has been warned to improve his performances, or he risks becoming McLaren’s number two driver as the team is not out of the running in the championships.

McLaren has made a sluggish start to its title defence as the team found itself on the back foot, not only in understanding its new Mercedes power unit, but the MCL40 also lacked downforce.

Lando Norris ahead as Oscar Piastri faces McLaren warning

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The team brought a comprehensive update package to the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before the summer break, and won its first Grand Prix of the season with Lando Norris beating Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli to the chequered flag.

It was also the first win of Norris’ title defence and only the third time this season that McLaren walked away from a race weekend having outscored Mercedes.

The team, though, is by no means out of the championship fight – and, at the very least, it can still fight for Grand Prix wins.

McLaren trail championship leaders Mercedes by 159 points, but there are 530 points still in play with 12 Grands Prix and two Sprints.

Mercedes is also on the cusp of engine penalties, with both championship leader Kimi Antonelli and George Russell on their last components of various engine parts.

Between Mercedes’ reliability issues and mistakes from Ferrari, who sit second in the standings, F1 pundit David Croft insists McLaren still has a chance, but it may choose a driver to favour.

And unless Piastri picks up the pace, he says, that driver has to be Norris.

While Piastri has shown glimpses of the pace that saw him lead in the championship last season, overall Norris has been the faster of the teammates.

Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri: McLaren F1 2026 scores

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

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

“I thought his move at Turn 2 was exactly the sort of move we expect from Oscar Piastri,” Croft told Sky Sports’ The F1 show.

“You know, he is a fine, fine driver. But in 2026, he finds himself not having the pace of his teammate, and not just in Budapest, but I think consistently, over race weekends, he hasn’t had as much pace as Lando.

“You know, McLaren have got to give both drivers as big a chance as they can to do as well as they can, but they can’t ignore the fact that one driver is going to go on and win the race, and the other’s going to come under pressure if they keep him out in front.

“I think McLaren actually did a decent job with the strategy. I didn’t hear any complaints at all on that one. I didn’t see anything to complain about.

“But Oscar’s got to find a way to match Lando’s pace.

“And if he can’t, then I think McLaren, with Mercedes as fragile as they are, and Ferrari’s strategy as fragile as it is, McLaren have got to find every way to maximise every advantage.

“And for me, one of the big things coming out of the summer break, can McLaren carry this on? Are they going to put their eggs in a Lando Norris basket, and is it going to come up trumps once again?”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has already hinted that the Woking team won’t back one driver over the other as he believes Piastri is in for a good second half to 2026.

“Oscar is still getting in tune with these 2026 cars, low grip cars, and there’s an opportunity there to find some pace, and there’s great work happening between Oscar, his engineering team, and the wider team of Oscar,” he told PlanetF1.com and others in Hungry.

“So, I think we will see a very strong Oscar for the second part of the season.”

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