“Isn’t a bad thing”, Oscar Piastri on the different new challenge of F1 in 2026

Oscar Piastri has relished the different and new challenge of F1 in 2026, saying that the challenge ‘isn’t a bad thing,’ for him and his fellow drivers.

Speaking during McLaren recent tyre test at the Nürburgring, the Aussie and teammate Lando Norris candidly discussed their season to date, as well as expressing optimism about the remaining 19 races. Piastri too sharing his thoughts on the challenge of new machinery.

“Overall, these cars are very different to anything I have driven before. But we’ve known this would be the case since the new regulations were shared,” the 25-year old put it bluntly.

“It being so different is a new challenge for us as drivers, which isn’t a bad thing.

“One of the big differences with these cars is that they’re lighter and much shorter and narrower than 2025. This means they can be a bit more agile and can feel nicer in the lower-speed corners, but the challenges around dirty air still stand and neutralise some of those benefits, as following is still an issue.

“There is also a lot more to think about in the car as a driver. You also have to think more tactically around quite a few things, especially on the power management side.”

Piastri also spoke on the unpredictable nature of the 2026 cars and power-units too, which is something he fell victim to in his home grand prix at the start of the season.

On the reconnaissance lap to the grid ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, an electrical power surge through the power-unit forced Piastri to lose control of his McLaren and crash out.

“This is just one area of quite a few that needs to be looked at and changed in the imminent future, highlighted further by a few different incidents across the season so far. I know we are working closely with the FIA, F1 and other teams to ensure these things are being looked at to ensure safe, but fun and exciting racing for everyone.”

Following on from back-to-back DNS classifications in the first two races, Piastri starred in the Japanese Grand Prix – taking the lead on the opening lap and even leading the first stint convincingly ahead of title favourite George Russell. Ultimately being cruelled by a Safety Car to cede track position to Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli, but still claim McLaren’s first podium of the season.

“I think it’s fair to say that it has been a trickier start to the season than we wanted. Coming into this year as world champions, we made it clear that it would be a reset across the grid, but we’d be lying if we said we hadn’t hoped to be closer to the front.

“We’ve done well to take what we could from these weekends, which helped feed into the strong performance in Japan, which felt like one of my best weekends. It showed that when we start the race, we’re actually quite good!

“We knew that Mercedes and Ferrari were going to be strong this year but I think we made a positive step in Japan. We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to be at the front, but I know this team has the ability to develop across the year and I look forward to seeing what we can do when we go racing again.”

The development too which Norris also highlighted, being a strength of McLarens under the leadership of Andrea Stella. Turning around starts to seasons poorer than currently in 2026 and rocketing to back-to-back constructors championships in 2024 and 2025.

“I’m confident in this team that we’ll be back fighting consistently for wins this season. In Round 3, whilst there was still a gap at the end, we were able to push the boundaries of our initial expectations and, without the Safety Car, could have genuinely been in contention for the win.

“We have a lot of work to do to be back at the front consistently, but closing the gap to Mercedes and out-developing the field is something that’s within our control. This team have proven how we’re able to turn things around, and we’re starting in a stronger position than we have in previous examples of this, such as 2024. I have complete trust that the team will do everything they can to get us there and I am genuinely excited to see what we can achieve.”

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Written by

Jawad Yaqub

An eCommerce Specialist by day and reporting on F1 by night. Jawad is passionate about motorsport, having provided accredited F1 coverage for more than a decade and is a member of the AIPS (International Sports Press Association). Live blogging (almost) every grand prix too since 2014, as well as articles on the Supercars Championship. Also keen on sustainability, photography, collecting vinyl, (trying to) expertly barbeque and learning to Dad.

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