Oscar Piastri has explained that a desire to get a “clean read” on McLaren’s upcoming Formula 1 upgrades has inspired his call to snub the team’s suspension update.
A slender eight points separate the McLaren drivers at the summit heading into this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, with Piastri harbouring the edge over Lando Norris.
Piastri has topped the standings since capitalising on his team-mate’s troubles with the MCL39 to land three successive victories in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami.
And while he extended the lead to 22 points as the sole McLaren home in Canada, Norris recorded back-to-back wins in Austria and Britain to close on his team-mate.
Norris’ resurgence has coincided with McLaren having introduced a revised suspension that has been designed to enhance the car’s responsiveness on the front axle.
Piastri has continued to race the previous version, though McLaren boss Andrea Stella has hinted that the team will encourage him to evaluate the part at a later date.
But despite admitting discussions have taken place regarding that, Piastri has revealed that he has wanted to avoid his assessment on other updates being obscured.
“There have been some conversations about it, and I probably will try it at some point,” Piastri told The Race.
“Whether I continue to stick with it, I don’t know. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a very minor change.
“Directionally, it should help, but the way I looked at it, or still look at it, is that is such a minor thing and we’ve had some upgrades in the last races, we’ve had other things to work on.
“While that’s not a big deal, I would rather keep it [the front suspension set-up] the same and get as accurate a read I can on the other big things we are changing, and I’ve not particularly felt the need to go in that direction.
“There are things I would change with the car, but that is not one that’s been at the forefront of my complaints.
“I might change at some point. Like I’ve said a few times, it’s not an upgrade. If it was purely a benefit, then I would put it on and not ask any questions.
“But whilst we have some actual upgrades come along, I thought it was just best to have a clean read on those.”
Piastri denies huge change between McLaren cars
Norris’ woes over one lap, coupled with his team-mate’s improvement, have seen Piastri reverse the comprehensive head-to-head beating he experienced last season.
However, the Australian quashed the notion that there has been much change between McLaren’s 2025 machine and the team’s title-winning predecessor, the MCL38.
“This year’s car is obviously incredibly quick, and I think we’ve done a good job of making it easier to extract all of that potential out of it,” he elucidated.
“There’s still been some difficult sessions or difficult circuits for us to do that. But on the whole, it’s been good.
“When you have a quicker car, more often than not it’s a better-behaved car.
“And we have considerably made the car firstly quicker, but also more in the direction that I think both of us want, and certainly that I want, in the way it behaves.
“As a racing driver, you’re always going to complain about something, and you’re always going to run into the laws of physics that stop you getting everything you want. But in broad terms, it does a lot of what I want, within reason.
“So there is that. But in all honesty, I don’t think the car is that different from last year in the way it behaves.
“There are some things that are different, but a lot of it is still the same. A lot of it is dictated by just how the downforce is generated, the tyres that we have.
“You can manipulate that to an extent, but you can only manipulate it. You can’t completely change it.”
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