Australian driver Oscar Piastri assessed McLaren’s performance on the final day of testing in Bahrain, highlighted the team’s technical progress under the new regulations, and denied that the squad is a favorite for the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Oscar Piastri evaluated the conclusion of Formula 1 preseason testing in Bahrain with a sense of progress for McLaren after finishing third in the morning classification, posting a time of 1:34.352 and trailing leader Charles Leclerc by 0.663 seconds. The driver noted that “we’re becoming a bit more optimistic” and stated that the tests “went well for the team,” summarizing the overall working atmosphere in Sakhir.
Within the context of the new 2026 technical regulations, Piastri explained that the British outfit managed to “complete a lot of laps and learned a lot of things, both good and bad,” an assessment that reflects the adaptation phase to the MCL40 and the collection of essential data for future development. The driver insisted that the testing program was thorough and focused on understanding key aspects of the car’s behavior under different fuel loads and setup configurations.
Despite satisfaction with the accumulated work, Piastri was clear in dismissing the idea that McLaren is the outright benchmark at this early stage of the season: “I wouldn’t say we’re leading the pack, but I think we’re not doing too badly,” he said, rejecting any suggestion of favoritism before the championship begins.
Piastri’s stance reflects a more measured technical reading of the test results, at a time when Formula 1 shows variations in lap times between teams and when elements such as tire management, aerodynamic balance, and engine reliability remain open questions. In that regard, the Australian emphasized that McLaren has “good ideas and good directions” to tackle the challenges of the 2026 regulations and that identifying and maximizing those areas will be key to performance in the opening races.
Piastri’s comments also highlight that preseason testing does not always accurately predict race performance, especially under a new set of technical rules that impact everything from aerodynamics to hybrid systems. In that scenario, McLaren has sought to balance data collection with on-track evaluation of solutions that enable informed decisions ahead of Melbourne.
From a competitive standpoint, the end of preseason in Bahrain paints a picture in which teams such as Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull also showed strong pace, reinforcing McLaren’s caution about declaring itself a favorite. Piastri maintained that the true competitive order will only become clear once the cars race under full qualifying and tire management conditions.
With the opening round of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship in Melbourne scheduled for mid-March, McLaren now faces the task of translating the information gathered in Bahrain into concrete performance gains. The ability to execute on that technical foundation will be central to the British team’s hopes of fighting for top positions in the early rounds of the calendar.