McLaren faced difficulties again at the Formula 1 British GP, and Oscar Piastri believes he has identified one of the main reasons for the team’s performance drop. According to the Australian, the variable conditions at Silverstone highlighted limitations of the MCL40 that had been masked throughout the season.
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The weekend marked another result below expectations for the team, which was once considered one of the title favorites before the season started. While Lando Norris managed to recover ground to finish fourth, Piastri ended up only in 11th position, unable to find confidence in the car throughout the event.
Besides the already known difficulty in high-speed corners, especially in the Maggots, Becketts, and Chapel sequence, Piastri highlighted that track conditions played a decisive role in exposing the car’s problems: “I think the conditions at Silverstone definitely showed where we are weak,” he said.
The driver explained that when the grip level is high and conditions remain stable, McLaren can fight for competitive positions and hide some of its limitations: “When there is good grip and everything is consistent, we can be in the fight or very close to it. This ends up masking some of our problems. But when conditions get very difficult, there is nowhere to hide the weaknesses, so it was no big surprise that we struggled so much,” he said.
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Piastri also pointed out that the team still struggles to get the tires into the ideal temperature window, a problem that, according to him, has been recurring at different stages of the season: “We have very clear areas we want to work on, but at the moment, we clearly suffer when conditions get a bit more complicated,” he added.
The Australian recalled that similar situations had already occurred at the Canadian and Monaco GPs: “We saw in Canada and Monaco that when it is difficult to get the tires to the correct temperature, we suffer. We also face difficulties when there is a lot of wind and when everything gets a bit out of our comfort zone,” he concluded.
Piastri’s statements reinforce that McLaren is not facing just a punctual problem, but rather broader limitations in the MCL40’s behavior outside its ideal operating range. With Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull Racing showing the ability to take advantage of these situations, the team will have important development work ahead to regain competitiveness and keep its ambitions alive for the rest of the season.
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