Oscar Piastri says the order we see at the Australian Grand Prix is unlikely to determine who wins the opening season under F1’s new regulations.
After Bahrain testing McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested Mercedes and Ferrari — favoured by bookmakers — look a bit ahead of McLaren and Red Bull. McLaren arrive in Melbourne as back-to-back constructors’ champions, with team-mate Lando Norris the reigning drivers’ champion who also won last year’s season opener.
Piastri accepts McLaren are competitive but not as clearly dominant as a year ago. He expects the championship to be decided over many races rather than at the first event, because teams and drivers will learn and develop through the season. The team that adapts fastest to that development curve, he believes, will be strongest by the end of the year.
He is confident McLaren can close any early deficit. Regulation changes tend to create several technical routes, and teams have taken different approaches this time around. Piastri highlighted McLaren’s engineering strengths and the squad’s track record of rapid response and development over the past two to three seasons, saying that gives him faith they can recover regardless of which direction the rules push them.
On a personal note, Piastri is chasing his first home podium in Melbourne after a rain-affected spin there last year.
The race will also be the competitive debut of the new 2026 cars and power units, which shift to a near 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical power. The electrical energy available has increased roughly threefold compared with 2025, creating new challenges in how drivers harvest and deploy battery charge around a lap. That management will vary by circuit, and Piastri expects tracks to present different difficulties — Albert Park, for example, has fewer heavy-braking zones than Bahrain, which will change how teams approach battery and power-unit strategy.
In short, McLaren may not be where they were this time last year, but with ongoing development and a proven engineering group, Piastri expects them to be in the fight as the season unfolds.