Piastri looking for ‘decent step’ from McLaren Miami upgrade

McLaren has solidified its position towards the front of the F1 field so far this season, typically running behind Red Bull Racing and Ferrari.

However, while Red Bull Racing is the obvious pacesetter, Ferrari has often been within reach.

The Italian team holds the upper hand in the constructors’ championship, but McLaren proved the more competitive squad in China last time out.

Naturally, the team hopes the upgrades introduced this weekend can see it challenge, or beat, its Italian rivals more consistently.

“Should be a good step forward,” Piastri said of the upgrades for this weekend.

“Obviously, a Sprint weekend it makes it a little bit more difficult to get the most out of them because you’ve only got one practice session.

“But should hopefully be a decent step forward.”

McLaren’s performance in China was unexpected and left the team scratching its head as it left Shanghai.

The long, loaded corners were tipped to amplify the weaknesses of the MCL38. Instead, it proved the team’s most competitive weekend of the season so far.

Introducing new parts in Miami this weekend follows a similar schedule to what McLaren did last year, introducing a small package earlier in the year ahead of what almost amounted to a b-spec car for Austria.

Then, the intent was to change direction with an early package in Azerbaijan to open greater development headroom with its subsequent upgrades.

This time, it’s about continuing the development pace it set a year ago.

“Trying to stay on a trajectory from last year is what we’re aiming to do,” Piastri noted.

“But obviously, as you get closer and closer to the limit of these cars and these regs, it becomes harder and harder to do so.

“I think the upgrades we pulled off last year always worked well, so hopefully we can have a similar kind of effect this year.”

Last year’s Miami Grand Prix proved a difficult one for Piastri, who suffered a brake-by-wire failure after rising through the field in the opening laps.

“Last year, we had some upgrades at Baku, which was the race before Miami, and then we had a shocker here,” Piastri recounted.

“So we’ll have to wait and see f this track suits us because, last year, we chopped and changed quite a bit.

“But hopefully it [the upgrade] does what it’s supposed to do. That would be good.”

This year’s Miami GP marks the second Sprint event of the year, leaving McLaren just an hour of practice before the competitive sessions begin with Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon (local time, 06:30 AEST Saturday)