Piastri Reveals MCL39 Performance Struggles: ‘Never Meets Expectations’

After winning the constructors’ championship last year, all eyes are on McLaren to see if their new MCL39 has what it takes to defend the title.

Oscar Piastri isn’t making any bold promises just yet.

“It’s been a bit up and down,” he admitted before his final testing day. “Some of the runs have looked very strong. Others have been a bit trickier.”

The young Australian finished day three of testing in P4, while teammate Lando Norris landed down in 11th.

It’s pretty remarkable that Piastri helped McLaren win their first constructors championship in 26 years during just his second F1 season. Now the papaya team heads into 2025 with a target on their back.

So how does the new car actually feel?

“It felt decent. It felt pretty similar to last year, but you just never know,” Piastri explained.

He expects the competition to be fierce right from the start.

“I’m expecting it to be pretty tight once we get to Melbourne next week,” he said, adding that it’s “hard to know” exactly where they stand compared to rivals.

The reality is these current F1 cars are notoriously difficult to drive regardless of team.

“With this generation of car, it’s never going to feel as good as you ever want it to,” Piastri pointed out. “It’s just whether that’s better than everyone else.”

Is Piastri just being modest about McLaren’s chances? Or is the MCL39 actually trickier to handle than last year’s championship-winning car?

We’ll find out when the real racing begins.