The Formula 1 star is back in Melbourne ahead of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, speaking at a lunch hosted by OKX and Forbes Australia at the Melbourne Convention Centre. Piastri discussed F1’s new regulations, his approach to separating results from effort and which teams will be at the front of the grid in 2026.
Melbourne’s Oscar Piastri is under no illusions about how fortunate his rookie season with consecutive Constructors’ Champions McLaren panned out.
“We’re probably one of the best case studies in F1, in how we managed to turn things around a few years ago,” Piastri told the packed room of OKX and Forbes Australia guests on Wednesday. “When I started in 2023, we were one of, if not the slowest, cars. By midway through the season, we’d improved the car so much that we were fighting for podiums.”
Just three years later, Piastri is about to embark on another steep learning curve with McLaren. This weekend’s Australian Grand Prix marks the introduction of new regulations that flip F1 cars as we knew them on their head. Power units are now a 50:50 split between internal combustion and electricity produced from braking.
McLaren’s innovative MCL40 vehicle was unveiled on a Barcelona racetrack in January. While it has undergone testing, Sunday’s Grand Prix will be the first time the redesigned F1 cars compete head-to-head on a racetrack.
Piastri says the McLaren MCL40 is a very different drive experience, and while it’s exciting, there is a lot to get used to.
“The way the engines work is incredibly different and like nothing we’ve had before. There’s less downforce than what we had last year, so the cars move around a little bit more. There’s gonna be a lot of lifting and coasting. Slippery, I guess, would be the best word to describe it,” says Piastri.
“For the driver, we’re always trying to get the most out of the car, push down a little bit extra. And you still have to do that, but in certain areas, you can’t. You’ve got to be very disciplined and pay attention.”
McLaren’s Team Principal Andrea Stella calls the changes to the vehicles unprecedented.
“Not only in terms of the changes themselves – because I think never before has there been such a huge and simultaneous change of chassis, power unit and tyres – but also the sheer volume of redesigning that has gone on over the last 20 months at McLaren. It has probably been the biggest new car project that I have ever been part of,” Stella stated in January.
This ‘experiment’ is exciting, Piastri says. But it changes the game from the last couple of seasons where McLaren has reigned supreme.
“I think we’re still in the mix at the front. Us, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull – that’s still the top 4. But the order is not very clear at the moment. There will be other teams that are bringing a lot of performance this weekend,” the 24-year-old said on stage.
To get the most out of racing an unfamiliar car in his hometown this weekend, Piastri says he tries to focus only on the things that are within his control.
“You can’t control how good or bad the car is. At this point of the year, you’re kind of just sitting in the unknown of, I don’t know what we’re going to get, but I’m pushing my absolute hardest to get the most of what we can. I just do my best, and that’s all I can do,” he says.
“Where F1 is very unique, is that it’s not all in my hands. No matter how much I put into it, how hard I try, I need something pretty special to go wrong with the others [drivers] for me to win,” he says with a laugh.
Because of this, the Monaco-resident has learned to disassociate a race result from the effort he has put in and to some extent, his emotions.
“I’ve had races where I’ve finished 4th or 5th that have been significantly better than races I finished on the podium,” Piastri says.
He acknowledges the work of the 1000+ McLaren Racing team in Woking England, and the race engineers that travel on the gruelling F1 circuit.
“In our sport, positions, and wins and even championships, are separated by 10 or 15 different areas on the car that each mean a 10th of a second on the lap. You get enough of those really small things, and that’s the difference between winning and losing.”
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