Oscar Piastri says McLaren “need to improve” after Bahrain Grand Prix P6 in Malaysia

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Oscar Piastri said McLaren “need to improve” after a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit, where he finished P6 and felt the team “just weren’t quick enough” compared with some rivals. Speaking after the race, the Australian acknowledged that while he was satisfied with his personal execution, the overall pace and key race calls did not allow McLaren to convert the performance into a stronger result.

Piastri described an eventful afternoon shaped by heavy rainfall and a late tyre decision. With the Grand Prix delayed due to rain, both Piastri and team mate Lando Norris were among a small group that opted to start on medium tyres for the race.

That choice, according to Piastri, proved to be the wrong one because the track was still not dry enough for slicks when the race got underway. He said he then pitted at the end of the first lap to switch to the intermediates, a move that dropped him backwards through the field.

After recovering positions, Piastri executed a further tyre change during the first Safety Car period, switching to the hard tyres. He said the closing stages brought additional tension, including a moment where he narrowly avoided being collected by Norris after the Briton ran off track during the last Safety Car phase later in the race.

The result was P6 for Piastri, the same position he started from. While he characterized his own performance positively, he also stressed that McLaren’s package did not provide enough speed to challenge for more than sixth. “Overall, reasonably happy,” Piastri said. “I think it went pretty well on a personal note. I felt like I did a pretty good job today… Unfortunately we just weren’t quick enough to really do that much.”

Piastri added that the race was affected not only by pace but also by decision-making under changing conditions. He described “The last Safety Car” as “a bit of a shame,” explaining that he was catching Charles Leclerc quickly, but he said the fundamental issue remained that McLaren did not make the right calls and was ultimately not quick enough.

When asked whether McLaren now appears behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull on pace, Piastri did not dispute that competitors were faster. He singled out Red Bull as the strongest in the field at this event, saying they had been “incredibly fast.” He also pointed to Red Bull’s recent improvements, noting that Baku’s developments appeared to have carried over, with the team winning the race this weekend.

Piastri said McLaren and Ferrari look similar in pace but stressed that the shared level is not yet enough to fight for race wins. “We need to improve. We know that, and we’ll try our best to make sure we try and improve,” he said.

Across his comments, Piastri’s message was clear: the result reflected more than one-off luck from a rain-affected race. He linked the final classification to a combination of tyre timing, Safety Car disruption, and an underlying competitiveness gap—an issue he says the team will focus on moving forward.