Oscar Piastri addresses 'Wacky Races' fear over new 2026 F1 cars

Oscar Piastri does not believe F1 cars will be too "wacky" to drive in 2026, despite the radical changes to the new machines.

In the single-biggest shake-up to F1's technical regulations from season-to-season, the new 2026 cars are narrower, shorter, and lighter than their 2025 cousins, with active aerodynamics also being deployed for the first time.

The power units have also been radically overhauled and now feature a 50-50 split in terms of power output from the internal combustion engine and beefed-up battery systems, now capable of producing 350kw of power.

This climb from an 80-20 split in 2025 means drivers have to be more economical with their energy deployment and in harvesting, with lift and coast and super-clipping two of the buzzwords from testing.

However, despite the huge change to how cars will generate their power, Piastri does not believe that the new machines will be "wacky" to drive.

"It is very corner dependent, and it is going to be very track specific as well," Piastri told media, including RacingNews365, of the approach to using the throttle to charge the battery. 

"At some tracks, it is easier to recharge the battery than others, and that was the case last year already, but obviously, the consequences and power are three times more now, but you still have to drive the car the same way. 

"There is nothing overly strange, yes, there is more lift and coast in general, but there is still no throttle blipping or anything like that.

"There are lots of things done behind the scenes with software and through the engine manufacturers, so [the cars] are not going to be super wacky to drive.

"They are going to be different, but just a slightly different version of how you would normally drive a race car, and then nothing wildly different."