Oscar Piastri declares 'Mercedes envy' as tricky F1 challenge explained

Oscar Piastri has described how McLaren feels "envy" towards Mercedes with its pace through corners in F1, as he addressed a tricky challenge facing drivers.

Mercedes' W17 machine has been the class of the field in 2026, with 11 wins from 17 races, and is closing in on winning the team a ninth constructors' crown, with Kimi Antonelli on the verge of winning the drivers' championship. 

In contrast, McLaren, the reigning constructors' champions, have slipped back in the first year of the new technical regulations and are in a fight for third place with a resurgent Red Bull with the MCL40 machine being tricky to extract performance from. 

One aspect of this is the higher tyre pressures which have been mandated by Pirelli as a safety factor in case of straight-line mode failure. With the cars designed around reduced downforce on a straight with active aero open, any failure could place undue stress on the tyres and cause failures.

The higher pressures mean the tyres are prone to 'ballooning' and cannot give drivers the feeling they require to extract maximum performance.

However, Piastri does not believe this is the only reason to explain McLaren's deficit to Mercedes - whom he described as "envying" through the corners.

"If I knew, I'd be a much happier person," Piastri began to media, including RacingNews365, when asked if the tyres were affecting the performance levels in 2026.

"I think in Baku it wasn't a huge surprise to see Mercedes so far ahead, they've been very, very quick everywhere. I think their straight-line speed has always been very strong, and I think the confidence they have on the way into corners is generally something we envy. 

"Putting it bluntly, I think some of the laps that Lando's done in qualifying to put the car on pole have been better than what the car deserves, but I think definitely for us, and I can't speak for others, but definitely, if you can break that barrier of what holds you back, you find a lot of lap time, and you know that's kind of the thing. 

"Either you're quite a way off, or you're really fast. There's not really an in-between, and that's been a bit of a struggle this year. So I don't think it's necessarily down to the tyres. I

"I think for us there are definitely a few things in how we need to drive the car that are maybe compounding that. 

"But even last year we were having stints or weekends where our pace was unbelievable, and we didn't really know why, and we struggled more on other weekends, and we didn't really know why. 

"So there are always unknowns, but I don't think it's as simple as just the tyres are very sensitive."

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Where will McLaren finish?

Following a mixed triple-header for the team, McLaren's lead over Red Bull has reduced to just seven points. 

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