McLaren 'more optimistic' after Bahrain test - Piastri

Oscar Piastri has admitted that he and the McLaren team are 'getting a little bit more optimistic' following the second pre-season test in Bahrain. The Australian driver completed his stint in the MCL40 on Friday morning, placing third on the timesheets whilst racking up a total of 66 laps for the day.

'I think we're probably getting a little bit more optimistic,' Piastri responded when quizzed on whether McLaren had a car to fight at the sharp end from the off. 'The testing's gone smoothly for us at least. We've been able to get a lot of laps in, learn a lot of things, both good and bad.'

Piastri also spoke about the progress he has felt in adjusting to the new cars amid the introduction of sweeping new technical regulations. 'I think it's definitely been a learning curve, and there's still some things that we need to do as drivers that are certainly very different to what we had to do last year.'