McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has admitted that the strengths that made him a title contender during the 2025 Formula 1 season have become his biggest weaknesses as he battles to adapt to this year's regulations.
The Australian sits seventh in the championship with just 138 points and lacking a grand prix win so far this season. His team-mate and reigning champion Lando Norris perches just one rung above him in the standings, but with vastly more points at 201.
With F1 now beginning its American triple-header, Piastri believes he is slowly starting to become more comfortable with the car. Asked about McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown’s claim that he is back to being the driver of old, Piastri said in the FIA press conference in Austin:
"It certainly was hard to find for a while, but I feel like the last triple-header was definitely more back to where I wanted to be," he stated. "I’m definitely still not at the level I aspire to be at, but I’m back in the ballpark that I should be in. It’s been no secret that this year has been challenging in terms of getting a grip on this year’s car."
He admitted that very little has changed on the car, and that most of the work has been on himself instead, noting that fast fixes are simply impossible under the current technical constraints.
"It’s been a lot of hard work in terms of how I adapt myself to the car, because the things that were working so well for me at points last year are kind of the things that are my downfall in a lot of weekends this year," Piastri added. "When you can’t rely on the things that you normally want to rely on, it is always challenging, both in terms of actually adapting, but also, when you’ve been used to something working for you for a long time, trying to go away from that, there’s a mental challenge to that as well."
Piastri’s comments follow his admission after a difficult Singapore Grand Prix that the team has no magic answers this season. Team principal Andrea Stella previously added that the car will not change enough to help the situation until next year.
McLaren currently holds third place in the constructors’ championship, narrowly ahead of a surging Red Bull squad led by Max Verstappen. The Woking-based outfit will be hoping to maintain their advantage as the championship heads deeper into the American leg.
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