McLaren’s Oscar Piastri has expressed caution about the potential performance gains Mercedes could achieve with their major upgrade package set to debut at the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks. While McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all introduced significant updates at the recent Miami Grand Prix, the championship-leading Mercedes team opted to run only minor components on their W17 cars, saving their first major upgrade package of the season for Montreal.
The strategic decision by Mercedes to delay their upgrades comes as McLaren has successfully closed the performance gap with their improved MCL40. Despite McLaren’s progress, Kimi Antonelli secured a third consecutive victory for Mercedes at Miami, extending his championship lead over teammate George Russell to 20 points. However, McLaren managed to outscore Mercedes by three points during the Miami sprint weekend, reducing the constructors’ championship deficit to 86 points.
Piastri acknowledged that McLaren’s recent gains could be neutralized if Mercedes delivers substantial performance improvements with their Canadian GP package. “It’s going to be interesting to see,” the Australian driver told media, including RacingNews365. “We need to see where we stack up at a few different tracks. In the sprint [in Miami], to have a one-two on pure pace, that was a pretty big surprise for us. So things are working well.”
The McLaren driver emphasized the uncertainty surrounding Mercedes’ upgrade potential, noting that while his team’s recent developments have proven successful, the true test will come when Mercedes reveals their hand in Montreal. “We expected the upgrades to be a good step forward, and they have been, and hopefully they are again in Canada,” Piastri continued. “But, obviously, Mercedes didn’t bring a lot, and they also have an upgrade package for Canada, so we’ll have to wait and see how much that’s worth for them.”