Piastri arrives at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix sixth in the drivers’ championship on 68 points after a difficult opening seven rounds.
It is a sharp contrast to this point last season, when the Australian led the standings on 146 points and had already claimed four grand prix wins.
This year, Piastri is still chasing his first win, with second place in Japan his best result so far, while McLaren’s only victory of the campaign came through Lando Norris in the Miami Grand Prix sprint in which Piastri was second.
His season was also compromised before it had properly begun, having failed to start the opening two grands prix after crashing on his way to the grid in Australia before a technical issue stopped both McLarens from starting in China.
Asked in Austria whether McLaren needed a race-winning car before the summer break to keep any realistic title hopes alive, Piastri conceded the situation was difficult but refused to write off the team’s chances.
“The odds are definitely stacked against us for sure,” Piastri said.
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“But I think last year was a pretty good showcase of how quickly things can change. We’ve still got a long way to go in the season.
“Yes, we’re very conscious that we need to improve things and for things to change for us, but I don’t think we should count ourselves out.
“Yes, we’ve got to do a lot of hard work. Yes, we’ll need a few things to go our way. But we’ve seen reliability issues for everybody across the board and things can change very quickly.
“The clear part in all of that is if the performance of our car and the competitive order doesn’t change, then yes, we’re not going to win.
“If we can improve things dramatically like we have done in the last few seasons, then I think anything is still possible.”
Piastri described the first part of his campaign as “very up and down” and admitted there had been more difficult weekends than strong ones.
The McLaren driver said the team had managed to maximise some opportunities but had also left points on the table through a mix of errors, reliability setbacks and a lack of outright performance.
“Very up and down, clearly,” Piastri said when asked about the season so far.
“I think probably a bit more down than it has been up, unfortunately. I think there have been glimpses of good pace.
“I think there have been races where we’ve taken advantage of the situations around us and maximised things.
“There’s definitely been situations where we haven’t, whether it be through mistakes from drivers, whether it be reliability issues, whatever it might be.”
Piastri said McLaren’s recent outings in Canada and Monaco had exposed some of the areas holding the MCL40 back, though he suggested the team’s problem was not confined to one specific weakness.
“I think for us as a team, we know that we’re lacking performance, and I think Canada in the race and especially Monaco kind of highlighted where some of our struggles lie, which we’re trying to fix,” he added.
“But we have a bit of a deficit everywhere. We don’t really have any clear strengths where we’re really strong, but we’re not terribly bad anywhere either.
“So in some ways that’s good, in some ways that’s bad.
“To catch Mercedes – and we’ll see whether Ferrari maintain their form as well – we need to put some new bits on the car.
“We need to make it faster, and we need to do it quicker than everyone else, because at this point in the year and this point of the regs, everybody’s coming with upgrades quickly.
“So we know we need to improve.”
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Piastri denied he was still being held back personally by missing the opening two races, pointing to his runner-up finish in Japan as evidence he was able to quickly get back up to speed.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said.
“I think Japan, to come back out and finish second there, was a really good result.
“I think there have been some different struggles in the last couple of races.
“Barcelona in particular, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I would do differently if I was to have that race again, but I don’t think it’s really paying the price anymore for lack of experience.
“Things are quite different to last year in a number of different ways, but yeah, it’s up to me to be able to adapt to that.
“I think in certain situations I have adapted very quickly. In others, I haven’t adapted as quickly as I need to.
“So, still plenty of learning.”
Piastri said McLaren had done its homework after his difficult Barcelona weekend, though he warned there was little expectation of an immediate turnaround in Austria.
“We’ve done a lot of homework as to why the race in Barcelona was such a struggle for me,” he said.
“I think we’ve got a good idea why and a good plan on how to not repeat that.
“I think for us as a team here, you know, Ferrari took a good step forward in Barcelona, Mercedes is still the benchmark as well, and I’m hearing along the grapevine that Red Bull have got some big things as well.
“So, it’s not going to be easy for us.
“Yes, it has been a good track for us in the past, but there’s no illusion for us that we’re suddenly going to be amazing here and the team to beat. We’re definitely not going to be.
“Hopefully we can get close and be in the position that we have been in at certain points, where we can capitalise on dramas for others.
“To be able to do it on merit or pure pace is going to be a bit of a stretch, but I’d like to be happily surprised.”
McLaren won its first Austrian Grand Prix in 24 years last season, with Norris leading Piastri home in a one-two finish at the Red Bull Ring.
Piastri will also race in Austria this weekend with a special helmet design, featuring a light blue and green look inspired by sound waves from his car’s engine.
2026 F1 Austrian Grand Prix – Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more
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