Piastri left puzzled by McLaren pace gap to Norris

Oscar Piastri is scratching his head over his inability to extract the full potential of McLaren's heavily-upgraded MCL40, as teammate Lando Norris cruises to back-to-back wins. The reigning world champion triumphed in Budapest and Zandvoort from pole, while Piastri suffered a DNF and a sixth-place finish, leaving him 55 points adrift in the standings.

Why it matters:

Piastri's struggles are becoming a defining theme of McLaren's 2026 campaign. With the field tighter than ever—three teams within a tenth of a second—any small shortfall in performance translates into significant positional losses. For Piastri, the issue is compounded by his known difficulty with low-grip cars under the new downforce regulations.

The details:

• Piastri trails Norris 13-4 in their qualifying head-to-head (including sprints) and hasn't scored a podium since Miami in May.
• At Zandvoort, Piastri qualified fourth, just 0.142s off Norris, but fell back in the race after a slow 5.4s pitstop and struggled to switch on the hard tyres.
• He finished 32 seconds behind Norris, with both Ferraris overtaking him.
• Stella's take: Team principal Andrea Stella dismissed any psychological factors, calling it "purely technical." He cited the slow pitstop and a second stint where the hard tyres stayed in a "very, very low grip" regime.
• The bigger picture: Piastri's title bid collapsed last season at low-grip tracks like Baku, Singapore, and Mexico City—a pattern that has resurfaced under the 2026 rules.

What's next:

Piastri acknowledged that "in the driving style, there clearly must be something" and is working with the team to close the gap. With McLaren's car clearly capable of winning, the onus is on the Australian to adapt quickly—or risk falling further behind in the championship battle.