‘We’re not standing still’ – Piastri insists he’s ‘making progress’ despite setbacks

Oscar Piastri has hailed McLaren for their support and constant search for solutions to the difficulties he’s faced this season, stating that they are “not standing still” as they push for additional performance.

After challenging for the title in 2025, the Australian has struggled to match his team mate Lando Norris, who maximised the team’s effective development to secure a brace of Grand Prix victories in Hungary and the Netherlands.

Both Piastri and Team Principal Andrea Stella have been open about how his natural driving style doesn’t suit the new generation of cars, but the 25-year-old appeared optimistic about his gradual improvement ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Addressing the media, Piastri said: “The progress isn’t linear – you’re always going to find some things that work, and go down some paths that don’t work. We’re still very much in that phase at the moment.

“I think last weekend [in Madrid], the car was quick eventually but it was very difficult to get the lap time out of it. That’s probably the biggest thing. I feel like we’re making progress and at least exploring different things – some are working, some aren’t. We’re not standing still, which is the most important thing.

“I’ve definitely felt that we’re throwing everything we can at trying to improve, which has been good. There are only so many things you can do without jumping in the car and trying stuff.

“I think with the limited time we have, you need to have a good set of ideas that you want to action. You can’t just try random stuff. I feel like it’s been a very good team response in trying to improve things as quickly as we can. I feel like I’m being well supported.”

After Piastri finished a frustrating eighth in the Spanish Grand Prix, Stella confessed that McLaren would shift more engineering resources in order to help him.

While he conceded that the move has made a difference, Piastri was eager to explain how it’s the fundamental behaviour of the cars that doesn’t align with how he’s raced in the past.

“Obviously the cars this year – power units aside – are quite different to what we’ve had previously,” he said. “A lot of the things that have worked for me previously don’t really seem to work this year, so it’s about trying to find different things that do work.

“I’m making some progress on that but it’s not as simple as you find one direction and that just works for you all the time. You need to constantly adapt and change things. That is part of what makes finding a solution difficult because the solution is always a little bit different every time.

“We’re trying our best. I think we are making progress but we’re certainly not in the place we want to be where we feel like we’re on top of this.”

Piastri’s next chance to extract performance from the MCL40 comes at the Baku City Circuit, where he clinched his second career win in 2024 before suffering a rough weekend last season that saw him crash on the opening lap.

Asked what his relationship with the track is like as a result, he responded: “Love-hate in some ways. I think probably my best race ever has been at this track, and probably my worst race ever has been at this track.

“It’s always eventful, which I know. I think it’s always a big confidence track. You need to push the limits a lot.

“It’s quite a rare combination of a street circuit with so many massive braking zones, so it’s an interesting track. Hopefully this year is more like 2024.”