Why Oscar Piastri is struggling in the 2026 Formula 1 season
Three years ago, McLaren arrived in Austria with a radically revised technical package and the ambition of returning to the front of the Formula 1 grid. That journey ultimately delivered two world championships, but the arrival of the new regulations has once again disrupted the team’s progress, leaving the Woking-based outfit struggling to match the pace of its biggest rivals at the start of the 2026 campaign.
Among those feeling the impact most is Oscar Piastri. After entering the season as one of last year’s title favourites, the Australian has found it difficult to settle into the MCL40, managing just a single podium finish amid a campaign affected by retirements and races he was unable to start.
“After Barcelona I spent some time working at home and I think I’ve understood what went wrong,” Piastri told the media. “Ferrari has made a big step forward, Mercedes is the favourite, and Red Bull has also arrived here with a significant upgrade package. This circuit has suited us well in the past, but that doesn’t mean we’ll suddenly become the team to beat. Hopefully we can get a little closer and take advantage if others run into problems, but expecting a strong result purely on pace would be optimistic.”
The Australian admitted that his season has been marked by inconsistency, even if there have been occasional flashes of strong performance.
“My season has had its ups and downs—probably more downs than ups—but there have been moments where we’ve shown good pace. Sometimes we’ve taken advantage of other teams’ mistakes, while at other times we haven’t maximised our own potential because of our mistakes or reliability problems. As a team, we know we don’t have the best race pace, and Grands Prix like Canada and Monaco have confirmed that, but we’re working hard to improve.”
Piastri believes McLaren’s current package lacks the outright strengths needed to challenge at the front, although he also feels the car has relatively few major weaknesses. Closing the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes, however, will require rapid progress.
“We don’t really have any particular strengths, but we don’t have too many major weaknesses either. To get closer to Mercedes and Ferrari, we’ll have to bring updates—and we’ll have to do it quickly.”
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