Piastri says 2026 struggles largely separate from 2025 title collapse

Speaking on the Up to Speed podcast, Oscar Piastri said he believes many, perhaps all, of his 2026 struggles are unrelated to what happened in the 2025 title race. He called this season’s problems a separate issue and said the campaign had taught him a lot.

Asked why his 2025 title challenge had unravelled, Piastri said he had struggled for pace in a couple of places and that some of those specific difficulties were also present in 2026.

The results underline the contrast. Piastri led the 2025 championship for 15 of 24 rounds before finishing third. In 2026, he has recorded two podiums, none since the Miami Grand Prix, and his average finishing position across the 16 races since Miami is 7.1.

Piastri said he was getting on top of some of his current problems, though not as consistently as he wanted. Brazil qualifying did not go to plan, he said, but the race pace he showed there was his strongest in a long time. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has attributed the struggles to Piastri’s difficulty adapting quickly to the 2026 cars. Stella says the cars’ lack of downforce requires constant small corrections, a demand that clashes with Piastri’s smooth driving style.

Piastri plans to use the off-season to reset and rethink, but expects the problems to require substantial work. He does not expect things to be magically different in 2027.