Piastri delivers McLaren pace verdict against rivals amid quirk revelation

When asked whether McLaren currently feels behind Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari, Piastri delivered a measured response, highlighting how operating the car within its optimal window could unlock significant lap time.

“Tough to know, I think, especially at the moment, if you can just have the car operate roughly how you expect it to, then you find a huge amount of lap time, and I think that's probably a big thing at the moment. I think we've been there or thereabouts with our pace,” the Australian said.

The 24-year-old continued his composed assessment while discussing McLaren’s long-run pace, admitting he still believes the papaya-coloured outfit sits slightly behind both Ferrari and Mercedes.

“I'm not sure what our long-run pace looked like, so we'll have to have a look at that. I don't think we ever thought we were a long way behind Mercedes and Ferrari. I think for me, I always felt like we were just a little step behind, and I'm still optimistic that if we get everything into a more optimal place, maybe we don't have the outright performance if everyone's at 100%, but I think the biggest thing is how close you can get to 100% at the moment,” the Australian concluded.

Despite his cautious outlook, Piastri topped the timesheets during the second practice session with a lap of 1:19.729, finishing over two-tenths clear of Kimi Antonelli and more than three-tenths ahead of the nearest Ferrari driven by Lewis Hamilton.

While tempering expectations around McLaren’s outright pace, Piastri also spoke about the challenges posed by the new regulations ahead of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

When asked about securing clean air and managing the battery demands under the new rules, the McLaren driver admitted there remains plenty of uncertainty.

“It's gonna be tough. I think at the moment we don't really know exactly how tough it's going to be. Trying to do practice sessions at the moment is really difficult if you're kind of off-sequence with people,” Piastri said.

Further underlining his point, Piastri pointed to the unusual way drivers have been launching their laps as another complication.

Piastri, however, expressed a little optimism, stressing how interesting the weekend is going to be and how he expects every team to find performance overnight.

“It's going to be an interesting weekend still to go. I think everyone's probably going to find a lot overnight just by getting things in the place they want," he concluded.