Piastri was eighth last Saturday night, two places behind team-mate Lando Norris – a result arguably a result of a strategy error that allowed Lewis Hamilton to undercut the Australian and steal seventh.
The Bahrain circuit has not typically played to McLaren’s strengths and saw pre-season expectations progressively walked back.
The slower speed corners, coupled with an abrasive tarmac in Bahrain highlight the weaknesses that remain in the MCL38.
Though efforts and progress have been made to improve the car, some traits of the MCL60 have carried over.
As a result, there were question marks about how Piastri and Norris would fare in the season opener.
Even still, the Woking squad left the weekend fourth in the constructors’ championship with 12 points – it took three races (and some fortuitous circumstances) to accrue the same number in 2023.
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“I think Bahrain was pretty representative,” Piastri opined.
“I think we seemed a little more competitive in qualifying than the race, which was not a complete surprise.
“But I think around third or fourth quickest is roughly where we expected to be.
“We’ll see if that picture changes a little bit in the next few races – I think here [in Jeddah] will be another interesting point for us to see where we stack up.
“But I honestly think we were about where we expected, and I think that’s not a bad place to be starting from.”
The Jeddah circuit is expected to play more to McLaren’s strengths this weekend. It boasts a less abrasive surface and far more highspeed content.
It will also pose another test of Piastri’s developing tyre management skills, one of the key lessons of 2023.
In Bahrain, there were clear signs of progress as he largely matched Norris during the race.
“I thought it was a strong race for myself,” he said of Bahrain.
“I think those kinds of circuits last year, where tyres degrade a lot, and there’s not much grip, you really challenge the rear tyres, was generally where I struggled a bit more.
“I think to come away from Bahrain very even on pace to Lando was… Honestly happy with that.
“So, for me, it was a good step forward. Of course, I need to keep doing that.
“There’s going to be different limitations at every circuit we go to, but I thought it was a positive start on something that I’ve wanted to address from last year.”
The next of those challenges is Jeddah this weekend, which places different demands on the car and, therefore, requires a different management strategy from the driver.
In two weeks’ time, Melbourne will offer a different challenge, as will Suzuka, the race after the Australian Grand Prix.
“There’s not as many slow corners, a lot more highspeed corners, so the sort of tyre characteristics or tyre management you need is quite different,” the Australian noted.
“I think Melbourne last year I struggled a little bit more. Japan, even though I finished on the podium, was quite a big deficit.
“So I think there’s going to be a number of races coming up pretty quickly [where I need to prove myself], but it’s going to be scattered across the season.”
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