At the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Formula 1 team McLaren expected to contend with Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari, but the reality was quite different. After a failed strategy with the tires on the first lap and an alarming lack of pace, Oscar Piastri managed to salvage a sixth place at the Sepang International Circuit.
Currently, McLaren is 240 points behind the Mercedes AMG Petronas team in the Constructors’ Championship, which increases the pressure to find solutions before the Singapore Grand Prix.
Difficulties with setup
During Thursday’s press sessions, under the lights of Marina Bay, Piastri was asked if the rough asphalt of Malaysia had completely ruined the aerodynamics of the MCL40. Although the new technical regulations for 2026 aim to reduce the sensitivity of the vehicles to changes in suspension height, the Australian driver pointed out that the grip of the surface remains crucial.
“Yes, it’s always hard to tell. Especially with the previous generation of cars. The roughness of the track made a big difference,” Piastri explained. “It will still continue to affect the cars this year.”
However, Piastri did not want to solely attribute the lack of competitiveness to the asphalt of Sepang. “I’m not sure it’s the only reason we’ve been inconsistent. But we certainly expected a stronger performance in Malaysia than we had,” he added.
Moments of quality
Despite the general difficulties in keeping pace with the leaders, Piastri highlighted that the MCL40 holds great potential when the right conditions are found. “At certain moments of the race, we seemed very quick,” he recalled. “In my second stint with the hard tires, I was the fastest. And Lando also did well with the soft tires. We were more or less the fastest cars at that moment.”
The fundamental issue for the Woking-based team is the lack of consistency. “If we can get the car into the right window, it’s very quick,” Piastri commented. “But we have struggled to achieve that over the last two weekends.”
Challenges and benefits of Singapore
With the Singapore street circuit presenting a different engineering challenge, the Australian hopes the team can finally find the necessary balance without the difficulty of rough asphalt. “I hope we can make things a little easier this weekend,” Piastri concluded. “It’s a very different circuit with a different surface. But yes, I think the level of grip in Malaysia surprised us a bit.”
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
