Piastri sets clear target for second half of the season as he picks out McLaren’s ‘real strength’

Oscar Piastri is optimistic that he can start “challenging for wins” more consistently over the second half of the season, with the McLaren driver admitting that his team’s rapid progress in previous years gives him confidence they can return to the front.

It’s been a topsy-turvy season for Piastri so far – after fighting for a maiden Drivers’ Championship in 2025, he began 2026 by failing to start the opening two Grands Prix in Australia and China.

That was followed by podiums in Japan and Miami, where McLaren enjoyed their strongest weekend of the season with both drivers, but he has missed out on the top three ever since and even finished outside of the points on two occasions.

His fortunes seemed to change at the final race before the summer break as he snatched the lead from team mate Lando Norris at the Hungaroring. However, contact with Williams’ Carlos Sainz and a subsequent gearbox problem forced him to retire while Norris secured McLaren’s first victory of the year.

Asked in a team Q&A what his targets are for the remaining rounds, Piastri replied: “I think for myself, it's always about trying to improve and trying to learn more things. I think anything that I can learn that's going to help me when we're in a stronger position again is only going to be a good thing.

“In terms of results, I would love to be able to be challenging for wins again, as I have done at the Hungaroring. I think if we can start challenging for wins then we can start thinking about what we can achieve in the Championship.

“But first and foremost, we need to just make sure we're getting the most out of the car and ourselves every weekend. Then if we've got the car to be able to win, then we can try to win.”

Although the Woking-based outfit clinched both 2025 titles, they found that, under the new regulations, they were significantly off the pace set by Mercedes. At the season opener, they were around eight-tenths off George Russell’s pole position time, and Norris later crossed the line 51s behind the Briton.

Nevertheless, McLaren have demonstrated in recent years that a combination of effective upgrades and steady points finishes can help them improve up the pecking order – in 2024, they introduced a refreshed package in Miami, where Norris claimed his first win and kickstarted an incredible turnaround for the team.

They ultimately toppled Red Bull as the frontrunners and clinched their first constructors’ title since 1998, giving Piastri hope that they could unlock similar performance to fight at the front of the pack once again.

“We're very conscious and aware of where we sit,” he explained. “We're under no illusions that we're lacking some performance, and we really want to chase it. We've got good ideas on how we can do it. And I think everybody's hungry to get back to where we have been and taste that success again.

“The past seasons do give me confidence. When you look at the previous experience of what we've been able to achieve as a team, and how we've been able to make progress through the year, it’s good.

“In 2023, we were in a much worse position than where we are now, and we were able to really jump up the order to fight for podiums. The way me and Lando worked together then to try and focus on making the car quick so we could then fight for the results that we wanted hasn’t changed.

“It’s still strong, productive conversations together with the team all pushing for the same goal. I feel like for me I've already seen it play out more than once. I think that's a real strength of the team.

“Yes, things are different, the cars are different, maybe the way we will make that step will look different. But we've made that step before, and I'm confident we can do it again.”