Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, his sixth victory of the season, but without the crushing advantage he’s had in the past.
McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes have all shown they have the potential to dethrone the Milton Keynes operation, which won 21 of 22 races last season.
Verstappen retired from the Australian Grand Prix, which Carlos Sainz won for Ferrari, and was outraced in Miami as Lando Norris claimed his first F1 win for McLaren.
In Monaco, Red Bull Racing simply didn’t have the speed. A week earlier, Verstappen had to dig deep after a poor run through practice saw McLaren head into qualifying favourites for pole position.
However, Piastri suggests a return to the Catalunya circuit this weekend will see Red Bull Racing resume its place at the head of the pack.
“I think Red Bull will probably be a bit stronger than they have been but I think we’ll be in the fight,” he ventured.
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McLaren has taken a step forward this season, coinciding with upgrades introduced for the Miami Grand Prix.
They’ve addressed some of the car’s peaky performance characteristics, which were typically well suited to high-speed venues at the expense of slow-speed performance.
Now, the MCL38 boasts a more rounded map, with performance akin to that of the Red Bull at the lower end of the speed range.
However, some of that has come at the expense of some of the high-speed potential, a character change that could hurt McLaren this weekend given Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s long, high-speed corners.
“I think we can still be confident, definitely,” Piastri argued of his chance.
“I wouldn’t say we’re weak in high-speed, it’s just that others have probably caught up a little bit, so we’ll see.
“I think I’m pretty comfortable with somewhere towards the front as well.”
McLaren is poised to have some upgrades this weekend though are not expected to be significant, with team boss Andrea Stella describing them as “individual components.”
“For the coming races, we will have some upgrades, but they won’t be a single kind of big upgrade like we have seen over the last 12 months,” he explained.
“This is more some individual components where we found a little bit of performance and rather than waiting to deploy everything together once ready we take it track side.
“So I won’t say what but we will see some new stuff coming over the few coming races.”
Ferrari and Mercedes are also expected to have new parts, the former fast-tracking components that were reported not due until the British Grand Prix next month.
It’s claimed that involves new aerodynamic elements, including a new floor, aimed at addressing low-speed performance, as it rebounds from a tough Canadian GP.
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