Piastri endured a muted run to fifth at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix two weeks ago, but made a more encouraging start to the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.
The Australian finished third in opening practice before improving to second in FP2, ending the day 0.237s behind Antonelli, who topped both Friday sessions for Mercedes.
While Mercedes appeared to hold the edge across Friday, Piastri said McLaren’s day had been a productive one as he worked through changes following his Spain result.
“It was a pretty good day,” Piastri said.
“I think we’re a step behind Mercedes, or at least Kimi. Which we expected.
“But I think it’s been a pretty productive day. I tried a lot of things.
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“We had some homework to do on my side from Spain, and I felt like we’ve been able to do a good job of trying to try some things.
“So from that side, I think it’s been pretty good.”
Piastri’s Friday was also a useful recovery for McLaren after its disrupted opening practice.
The Woking squad lost significant track time in FP1, with both Piastri and teammate Lando Norris spending much of the session in the garage while the team dealt with technical issues.
Piastri still managed to finish third in the opening hour, while Norris was limited to seventh after joining the session late.
Both McLarens were more competitive in FP2, with Piastri second and Norris third, 0.325s off Antonelli’s benchmark.
Asked how much more progress could be found overnight to reduce the gap to Mercedes, Piastri said Antonelli’s pace, particularly on the soft tyre, showed the size of the task ahead.
“We’ll have to see,” he said.
“I think for Kimi to do that kind of time on his second lap on the on the soft is quite impressive.
“So we’ll have to wait and see. We can’t invent anything overnight.
“But there’s definitely going to be areas for probably both of us to learn from each other.
“So we’ll just try and apply those bits and see where we end up.”
Antonelli’s pace made it a clean sweep for Mercedes on Friday, having edged teammate George Russell in FP1 before beating Piastri and Norris in the second session.
Max Verstappen was fourth in FP2 after a disrupted opening practice for Red Bull, while Lewis Hamilton completed the top five for Ferrari.
Final practice at the Austrian Grand Prix gets underway on Saturday before qualifying later in the day.
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