How Oscar Piastri’s first lap times in McLaren’s 2026 F1 car compares with Lando Norris

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Lando Norris’ #1-adorned McLaren F1 car was finally seen on track in Barcelona yesterday, while Oscar Piastri got his chance in the MCL40 today. F1 Oversteer has compared their lap times.

With a new season of Formula 1 racing now upon us, it presents two unique opportunities for McLaren’s highly ambitious driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

On one hand, Norris is looking to defend his title after clinching the championship at the very last round of the season last year.

On the other hand, Piastri is looking for redemption after letting the drivers’ championship slip through his fingers following a series of costly mistakes.

Both drivers have now had an opportunity to test McLaren’s new challenger, but only one of them is able to take home the bragging rights before the next week of testing in February.

• READ MORE: McLaren’s papaya rules might already cost Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at Barcelona 2026 test

George Russell breaks into the 1:16s! Can anyone challenge this on day five?! 🤯

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Oscar Piastri was just three-tenths short of Lando Norris after his first day of testing McLaren’s 2026 F1 car

Oscar Piastri’s fastest time of his first run out in the McLaren MCL40 was a 1:18.419, just over two tenths slower than Norris’ personal benchmark of a 1:18.189 on the day prior, according to SoyMotor.

Now, it has to be said that both drivers would have been on different simulations during their respective stints in the cockpit, and the British driver was treated to a full day of running, whereas Piastri wasn’t.

The Australian didn’t end up making an appearance in the afternoon, which is understood to be the more desirable time for drivers to collect meaningful data.

The fastest time of the day came from George Russell, who is continuing to show the prowess of Mercedes’ new invention.

He proved to be the only driver capable of breaking into the 1:16s, setting a benchmark for the day with a 1:16.445.

Mercedes have proved to hold the strongest package out of the teams we have seen out on track so far, with Kimi Antonelli also showing that he is handy in the W17 with the second fastest time of the day, and the fastest of the morning group.

• READ MORE: How Isack Hadjar’s 2026 Barcelona shakedown time compares to Oscar Piastri’s 2025 pole lap

Oscar Piastri’s afternoon session was scuppered by a fuel system issue on day four

Following the conclusion of the allotted testing times, McLaren revealed that they had been suffering from a fuel system issue, which explained Piastri’s absence in the afternoon.

Of course, it’s not desirable, but finding an issue like this is also one of the many reasons why testing is so crucial to each team.

In a press release provided by the Woking-based outfit, they said that the issue ‘required extensive investigation’, and assured that their team of engineers are now hard at work to ensure a full day of running on Friday.

They also detailed that both Norris and Piastri will share the driving duties for the final day of testing, while noting that they have found some ‘performance opportunities to exploit’ upon their return to HQ next week.