Piastri admits McLaren ‘a step behind’ Antonelli in Austria

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Oscar Piastri has conceded that while McLaren’s performance across Friday’s two practice sessions at the Austrian Grand Prix looked good on paper, they still have work to do to tackle Kimi Antonelli’s advantage. The Mercedes youngster set the pace at the Red Bull Ring, with Piastri finishing as the lead McLaren in P3 (FP1) and P2 (FP2) while Lando Norris faced disrupted running due to an early hydraulic leak. They initially exchanged laps at the top of the timesheets in FP2 before Antonelli went even quicker on the soft compound tyre, ending up over two tenths clear of Piastri to leave the Australian wary of celebrating McLaren’s improvement too much. Asked how it felt behind the wheel, he said: “It was a pretty good day. I think we’re a step behind Mercedes – or at least Kimi – which we expected. I think it’s been a pretty productive day, tried a lot of things. “We had some homework to do on my side from Spain and I felt like we’ve been able to do a good job of trying to try some things. From that side, I think it’s been pretty good.” It was a day shaped by low grip and brake issues for many teams, and McLaren were no exception – Piastri reported having a “very inconsistent” brake pedal during FP1 and claimed that every time he hit it, it was “a lottery as to how much travel” he had. Paired with Norris’ problem that saw him confined to the garage for three quarters of the session, it made their showing in FP2 a welcome sign of progress, even though Piastri noted that it won’t necessarily translate to a direct challenge of Mercedes. “I think for Kimi to do that kind of time on his second lap on the softs is quite impressive so we’ll have to wait and see,” he explained. “We can’t invent anything overnight but there’s definitely going to be areas for both of us to learn from each other, so we’ll just try to apply those bits and see where we end up.” McLaren’s Technical Director of Engineering, Neil Houldey, was similarly keen to manage expectations ahead of the rest of the weekend and added that their focus in FP2 was on adjusting the set-up for the Red Bull Ring. He said: “We’ve come away – I wouldn’t say happy, but knowing that we can go into FP3 with a little bit more opportunity for performance, again knowing that our competitors haven’t realised their potential fully yet either. “I think Mercedes, and especially Kimi, are going to be very difficult to beat. I don’t think that Ferrari are going to suddenly be a lot slower than they were in Barcelona so I’m sure they’ll be there or thereabouts, and we know that Red Bull have got their upgrade package. “It’s going to be super competitive, I’m sure, between those eight drivers. We hope to be towards the top but it really is very difficult to tell at the moment, as always.” F1FacebookXInstagramYouTube© 2003-2026 Formula One World Championship Limited