The McLaren driver was limited to 48 laps in the MCL40 after a fuel system issue halted the team’s program midway through the day, but said the early mileage was still valuable as he began adapting to F1’s radically different new-generation cars.
“It was nice to be back out today, especially in the new car,” Piastri said.
“There’s a lot of challenges this year up and down the grid, so it was good to get stuck in.
“We had a fuel system issue, which cut our day short, but the team’s working hard to get that fixed and back out tomorrow.”
Piastri’s running came during the morning session, with McLaren opting to stop early after identifying the issue during the lunch break.
Despite the lack of afternoon running, the Australian said the test was already delivering important reference points as teams come to terms with the 2026 regulations.
“These cars are completely different to what we’ve had the last few years,” he said.
“That’s part of what this test is about. We’ve already identified a few things that we can try to improve on the car to make it feel a bit nicer.”
Piastri ended the day fourth on the unofficial timesheets, 1.974 seconds adrift of Mercedes’ George Russell, but stressed that outright pace was secondary to understanding how the new package behaves.
“We have one more day of running tomorrow,” he said.
“We’ll continue to get used to the car and get a good read on how different things feel.
“Then we’ll find a good direction to make the car quicker and feel nicer.”
McLaren technical director of performance Mark Temple echoed that view, adding the shakedown was already fulfilling its primary purpose despite the setback.
“Second day on track, with positives to take away,” Temple said.
“We’ve got a good understanding of where the car is from a baseline point of view.
“In this shakedown, the most important aspect for drivers is that they understand how the new car operates, how the power unit interacts, and the process of energy management.
“Oscar now has some good reference points for that, as well as a feel for how the chassis behaves.”
Temple said the team had not been surprised by the MCL40’s behaviour so far, but admitted the lost track time was frustrating.
“Of course, it’s a shame we could not run in the afternoon as every minute of track time is precious at such an early stage of the season,” he said.
“We discovered a fuel system problem, which meant we haven’t been able to do all the running we would like.
“The car is very complex, so we decided to bring the car back into the garage and strip it down to fully understand where the problem is coming from, ahead of tomorrow’s running.”
Piastri is expected to share driving duties with Lando Norris on the final day of the shakedown on Friday.
Piastri hits track on disrupted day four of Barcelona F1 shakedown
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