Oscar Piastri believes he has identified an important change in the way Formula 1 cars will be driven in 2026. After a season start below expectations, the McLaren driver stated that he had to adapt his driving style to extract more performance from the new generation of cars.
The Australian arrives at the summer break with only 92 points and without reaching the podium since the Miami GP. Besides the lack of competitiveness of the MCL40 compared to the main rivals, Piastri has also frequently been outperformed by teammate Lando Norris, who started ahead in seven of the last eight qualifying sessions, except for Monaco.
The scenario contrasts with last season, when Piastri won six races in the first half of the championship and arrived at the break leading the standings, in tune with the previous generation car.
According to the Australian, the changes introduced in the technical regulations for 2026, both in chassis and power units, forced drivers to relearn how to drive the cars, and he believes it took longer than he would have liked to find this new way.
“We are having to figure out many new things and new ways to extract performance from the car and from ourselves,” he said.
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Piastri explained that initially, he ended up resorting to habits developed in previous seasons, something that does not always work with the current cars.
“It’s very easy to get into your normal rhythm and do things the way you always have, but that doesn’t always work with these cars. I think Barcelona was a clear example of that,” he said.
The driver revealed that he began to change his approach at the Austrian GP, when he decided to try a different way of driving.
“In Austria, I felt I needed to challenge myself a bit more, try new things and simply drive in a slightly different way,” he concluded.
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