The Australian has identified the circuits where he struggled in 2025 and where he will aim to improve in the upcoming season.
The missed opportunity
After last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, when World Championship leader Oscar Piastri left Zandvoort with a 34-point advantage over his teammate Lando Norris, the McLaren driver faced a series of disappointing results. These setbacks allowed both Norris and Max Verstappen to close the gap on the 24-year-old, with Oscar Piastri ultimately losing a major chance to become World Champion for the first time in his career.
Challenges in America
Norris, on the other hand, achieved a milestone in the title fight, which remained open all the way to the final race in Abu Dhabi. Now, ahead of the 2026 season, Oscar Piastri has reflected on the areas where he needs to work to improve his performance compared to last year. “I think at the moment it’s about identifying which elements can actually be carried over from last year to this year, because the cars are very different, the engines and power units are so different that it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of time on specific aspects of 2025 that won’t even be applicable this year,” he explained to The Fast and The Curious.
“So, I think the things I wanted to improve were very specific aspects of certain weekends. Austin and Mexico were the two main tracks where things didn’t work from a driving point of view, but it doesn’t make sense to waste hours of your life trying to improve these aspects when this year they could be completely different. So, I think about that type of small things, and then I just focus on some of the processes we have as a team, some of the decisions and situations we had last year. I think we are all working hard to improve how we approach these things.”
Throughout his career, Oscar Piastri’s best result at both the Texas track in Austin and the Mexican circuit has been fifth place. Last season, the Australian endured a particularly difficult weekend in the United States, including the incident with Norris in the Sprint Race before finishing fifth in the main event.
As the 2026 season approaches, all eyes will be on the McLaren garage to see if these adjustments can transform Oscar Piastri’s raw speed into a sustained championship campaign. Success in Formula 1 is often found in the marginal gains, and by addressing these specific weaknesses while adapting to the new technical regulations, the young Australian is positioning himself as a formidable contender. Whether these refinements will be enough to reclaim the momentum he showed in the early stages of last year remains to be seen, but his analytical approach suggests a driver who is more than ready to learn from the past to secure his future at the front of the grid.
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