Piastri says techniques that helped in 2025 now hinder him in 2026
Conceptual AI-generated editorial motorsport illustration; not a documentary photograph or evidence that a pictured event, meeting or transfer occurred. · 2026-10-22GPBeat newsroom · News Made Clear generated illustration
Oscar Piastri says driving approaches that worked for him at points in 2025 have become a disadvantage at many 2026 weekends. He feels his adaptation is beginning to click, but remains below his own target.
Driving approaches that helped Oscar Piastri at points in 2025 are working against him at many race weekends in 2026, the McLaren driver said at an FIA press conference in Austin. Adapting himself to the car has been hard work, and leaving behind methods he had relied on for a long time has brought a mental challenge as well, he said.
Asked about McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown’s view that he was returning to his old form, Piastri said it had been difficult to find that level for a while. He felt closer to where he wanted to be during the latest triple-header, and said things had begun to click more in recent weeks. He was back in the ballpark he expected to be in, he said, but still short of the level he aspires to reach.
Very little had changed on the car, Piastri said, and most of the work had been on adapting himself to it. Various things had been tried, he added, but the challenge could not be fixed quickly and would be difficult to resolve overall.
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- SOURCEOscar Piastri: What made me fast last season is now my “downfall”Motorsport.com F1
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