(Motorsport-Total.com) – In 2025, McLaren started the season almost perfectly with five wins in the first six races. According to Oscar Piastri, however, one should not expect a similar situation a year later. At least internally, confidence is not as high as it was twelve months ago, he reveals.
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McLaren will still be in the top group in 2026, Piastri tells Sky. “But I don’t think we are in the same position as twelve months ago, when we felt like the strongest,” said the Australian ahead of his home Grand Prix in Melbourne.
A year ago, teammate Lando Norris won the season opener in Australia and eventually became world champion at the end of the year. According to Piastri, however, it might not be that important to be ahead in Albert Park right away this time.
“I believe that this season will not be won by whoever is fastest or best at the first race,” he emphasizes, explaining with regard to the new regulations: “There will be a lot of development, a lot to learn, especially for us drivers.”
“And whoever can get used to it the fastest in this very long season will be ahead in the end,” he predicts. Therefore, it would not be dramatic for McLaren if they do not set the pace at the front of the field from the start this year.
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“We have shown in the last two or three years how quickly we can put things right and how quickly we can turn things around,” Piastri emphasizes. He therefore thinks “that we will achieve our goal, no matter what rules are imposed on us.”
During the Formula 1 winter test in Bahrain, Piastri set the third-fastest time behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes. At the end of the six days in Sakhir, Piastri was 0,869 seconds off Leclerc’s best time.
Teammate Norris slotted in behind in fourth place almost at the same time (+0,010 seconds). However, test times have only limited significance in Formula 1, which is why the season opener in Melbourne this weekend will be the first real showdown.
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