Why Oscar Piastri didn't have McLaren’s big F1 upgrade on Friday

Oscar Piastri has revealed that he ran without McLaren's upgraded components on Friday at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but expects to receive the latest package for the remainder of the weekend. 

Piastri ended Friday practice at the Hungaroring in eighth place, five positions and over eight tenths behind McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

However, unlike the Briton, Piastri did not run with the team's latest upgrade package in FP2, this after sitting out FP1 to allow reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli the session, in which the Italian trialled McLaren's 'Macarena wing'.

"I'll have the new bits tomorrow, so hopefully that improves things a little bit," said Piastri. 

"I don't think it's going to change the world, but I think the Ferraris have looked very quick. I think Lando obviously looked pretty good then. It's hard to read. I feel like if you can do a good, relatively clean lap at the moment, you'll be somewhere at the top, so that's the plan for tomorrow."

Referencing the windy conditions that caught out several drivers across the two sessions, Piastri added: "I obviously heard all the comments from FP1, but living them myself was quite a different experience. 

"Just very, very challenging out there for everybody, I think, but just a lot of variables. [It was] very windy. I think the car is naturally quite on edge anyway, and you throw in some wind and it's very tough."

Explaining why Piastri was without the new parts, McLaren senior director Randy Singh said, “The most positive takeaway from our running is that every new component we brought to the track performed as we expected. The drivers all did a fantastic job in what were very difficult conditions on track, especially with the wind, and we gathered a lot of useful data. 

"Lando ran the new package all day, with Oscar running the old specification floor in his only session to facilitate our comparative work. Leonardo Fornaroli also played a big part in that during FP1, and his diligent work has been really valuable for our programme and future development. We have a solid foundation and feel we have taken a good step in the right direction.

“We remain realistic about our position. The gap to the front has been significant in recent races, and we always knew we weren’t going to close that in one go. However, the signs are encouraging, and this progress gives us confidence that our development path is the correct one. We are reasonably positive and look forward to seeing where we stand in Qualifying on Saturday.”

Large sections of the Hungaroring layout have been resurfaced for this weekend, but the work has failed to impress drivers, with Russell commenting on certain areas of the track 'breaking up'. 

Echoing these words, Piastri said: "And then the track surface as well. [It's] quite bizarre. In a couple of places where it's been— well, the new bits, actually, where it's worn away, and they've added in some strips of tarmac. It's quite inconsistent. So all of those things are making it pretty tough."

Having experienced the new parts for himself, Norris assessed: “A tricky day, not the easiest two sessions for us. 

"While we took a step forward this afternoon, we've still got some work to do. We've introduced some new bits on the car today, and we need to understand those a bit better and how we can get them dialled in. 

"We know we're not going to catch the guys ahead immediately, so we need to keep working hard, but we're making steps in the right direction in a few areas. We'll work hard overnight to get more out of this package and see what we can do tomorrow.”