Oscar Piastri’s difficult 2026 Formula 1 season has raised growing questions over why a driver who fought for the world championship last year is now struggling to match McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. Part of the explanation lies with the MCL40 itself, but Andrea Stella has also identified a driving-style difference that appears to favour the reigning world champion.
At the beginning of the 2025 season, Oscar Piastri was widely regarded as one of the drivers capable of fighting for the world title. McLaren had famously secured his services following his contractual dispute with Alpine, recognising his enormous potential, and after two seasons of adaptation between driver and team, it finally gave him a championship-winning car.
For much of 2025, the story appeared to be unfolding in Piastri’s favour. However, his momentum faded during the second half of the championship and he was ultimately overtaken in the final standings by both team-mate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
That loss of momentum has continued into 2026. Piastri has generally appeared less comfortable than Norris during the current campaign, with the gap between the two McLaren drivers becoming another important storyline in the 2026 Formula 1 drivers’ championship.
The McLaren MCL40 is part of Oscar Piastri’s problem
Before focusing entirely on Oscar Piastri, it is important to acknowledge that the MCL40 is a much more difficult proposition than the highly successful MCL39 that preceded it.
Andrea Stella summarised McLaren’s performance limitations to Autosport by identifying two principal areas: “The lack of performance of the car can be attributed to two areas: exploiting the Mercedes power unit and the lack of grip through the corners.”
Those weaknesses have defined much of McLaren’s season, although recent developments have started to produce more encouraging results. Mercedes was notably surprised by McLaren’s major MCL40 upgrade in Hungary, where the Woking team made a clear step forward.
At the same time, Andrea Stella has provided a detailed explanation of why Lando Norris appears able to extract more performance from the MCL40 than Oscar Piastri.
“This generation of cars requires a specific driving style,” the McLaren team principal told Sky Sport Germany. “If you try to drive too cleanly, the speed doesn’t come. You have to attack the car and accept that it slides, as well as learning to be very active. This driving style comes more naturally to Lando than to Oscar.”
Oscar Piastri has not publicly blamed himself
Andrea Stella has acknowledged that McLaren is encouraging Oscar Piastri to adjust his driving style to better suit the new generation of Formula 1 cars. However, the Australian has not publicly framed his loss of performance as primarily a personal problem.
Instead, Oscar Piastri has spoken about significant balance difficulties and a lack of cornering grip, arguing that McLaren must continue working on those areas if it wants to close the gap to Mercedes.
Piastri has remained characteristically composed in his public comments, while Andrea Stella has continued McLaren’s familiar communication strategy of presenting a united front when dealing with difficulties. The team’s development effort has nevertheless required a significant rethink, with McLaren’s revised development direction helping deliver its Hungary breakthrough.
Even so, it is difficult not to wonder whether Oscar Piastri’s trademark composure may currently be masking a deeper crisis of confidence.
Has losing the 2025 F1 title affected Oscar Piastri?
Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft has argued that Oscar Piastri has not matched Lando Norris’ pace during the 2026 season and suggested that McLaren cannot simply wait indefinitely for the situation to resolve itself.
Several former Formula 1 drivers have also discussed whether the way Piastri lost the 2025 championship may have had a psychological effect on his current form.
Johnny Herbert offered that interpretation in comments to Casinostugan, highlighting the different narratives that have surrounded the two McLaren drivers.
“Oscar has had constant questions about his future, unlike Lando. Over the last six months Norris has managed to completely turn the narrative around his situation. […] Oscar can be there with Lando in terms of speed, but right now he is missing that mental solidity.”
Discussing the comparison between the team-mates, Johnny Herbert added: “As soon as McLaren had a car capable of fighting for victories, it was Lando who capitalised. Oscar is under a lot of pressure.”
The contrast is particularly striking because Oscar Piastri built much of his reputation around his calmness under pressure. That quality became one of the defining characteristics of his rise through the junior categories and his first Formula 1 seasons, making the suggestion of a psychological struggle particularly significant.
What Oscar Piastri’s 2026 form could mean for his future
Alongside Oscar Piastri’s weaker position within McLaren, speculation has also emerged about the possibility of Max Verstappen eventually replacing him at the Woking team.
There is no confirmation that such a move will happen, and Max Verstappen’s own future has already generated extensive speculation involving several teams, including renewed discussion following Max Verstappen and Toto Wolff’s highly discussed summer meetings.
Regardless of whether any Piastri-Verstappen switch ever materialises, however, a prolonged loss of competitiveness would inevitably weaken Oscar Piastri’s position in the wider driver market as well. Top teams are always looking for drivers capable of immediately extracting performance from changing technical regulations.
That makes the second half of 2026 particularly important for the Australian. Oscar Piastri needs to demonstrate that he can adapt his technique to the demands of the new-generation cars and once again match Lando Norris over a sustained period.
The MCL40 undoubtedly has weaknesses, and McLaren still has work to do. Yet if Lando Norris can consistently extract more from the same machinery, the pressure will increasingly shift towards Oscar Piastri to find his own solution.
His talent has never been seriously in question. What Piastri must now prove is that he can evolve quickly enough to prevent a difficult period from becoming a defining trend.
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