Oscar Piastri did not believe McLaren’s sudden about-turn in performance this season was possible.
McLaren delivered a stand-out display in the recent British Grand Prix where the upgraded MCL60 proved itself over one lap and in race pace.
At the previous event in Austria, Lando Norris started and finished fourth in the only McLaren that possessed updates given the time constraints on the development of parts.
At Silverstone, Norris’ car again took a step forward with upgrades, whilst Piastri was at least handed the initial spec, leading to second and third in qualifying, and runner-up and fourth in the race.
The Australian only slipped off the podium due to a safety car two-thirds of the way through following a power unit issue in the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that sparked a small fire.
McLaren’s remarkable upturn in form is in stark contrast to what transpired over the first eight races after falling behind in its development targets over the winter.
Aligned with a technical department revamp which resulted in the departure of technical director James Key, boss Andrea Stella and his team have performed superbly to deliver pace and performance.
Asked whether he thought such a 180-degree shift was possible, Piastri replied: “No, definitely not.
“We were very inconsistent at the start of the year, very dependent on track layouts, Tarmac, and stuff like that.
“Now, with these upgrades, they’ve been a good step forward over one lap, but clearly, on Sundays, we’ve made a massive step forward, and that’s the most exciting thing.
“Even with the old car, when the conditions were right for us, we could be mega over one lap, but we always kind of went backward on Sundays.
“At Silverstone, we were just as quick on Sunday as we were on Saturday, so very exciting, and full credit to the team for what they’ve managed to do to turn around the car, turn around the season.
“I’m sure there will still be circuits where we struggle a bit, but hopefully that means we’re struggling to fight with a Mercedes or Ferrari, instead of fighting to not be last, like we have been at times this season.”
With the final round of the update package due on both cars at the Hungaroring, Piastri is hopeful McLaren will again prove itself around a completely different layout compared to Spielberg and Silverstone.
“We were maybe slightly concerned that Austria would be a one-off and we’d be a little bit slower (at Silverstone), but if anything we were even quicker, so that was very exciting,” said Piastri.
“It was a strong circuit for our car with all the high-speed corners. Budapest has quite a few medium-speed corners, so we’ll see how we go, but we have proven two weekends in a row now there wasn’t a fluke.
“Will we be the second-quickest car in Hungary? I don’t know. But I think we can definitely try and aim for that.”
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