Another McLaren battle looms: Piastri's confidence should make Norris tremble

19:14, 01 Aug

byNorberto Mujica

Oscar Piastri has not been able to match his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in Hungary. Despite this the Australian is surprisingly optimistic and he himself reveals why.

Speaking after the FP2 session, Piastri assessed his Friday in Hungary. "I think generally, yes [everything has worked out so far.]"

"We've had to change a few things and try and make the car a bit better, but the performance has been very good. So, all in all, pretty happy."

Nevertheless there's still some things to work on, he believes. "Some things to tidy up. It wasn't the smoothest of FP2s, I think the underlying pace is good, so I'm excited for the rest of the weekend."

Piastri caught out by higher grip levels

Speaking on the issues he experienced at the Hungaroring Piastri revealed the high grip levels as a factor, alongside an unexpected behaviour from the car in the morning session.

"I think just the grip level was very high today. The car has been quick all day, just in FP1 it behaved a bit unexpectedly, so we changed a few things. It made it a lot better for FP2."

For the championship contender it is now a matter of fine tuning his MCL39 for the remainder of the weekend.

Nevertheless, the gap that McLaren pulled on their rivals was significant. Was Piastri surprised by it at all?

"Yes and no. I mean I think this is a track that should suit us quite well and it has done previously. Ferrari looked quick in FP1, I've not seen the long runs from FP2 but I think we're in a good place," Piastri concluded.