Oscar Piastri dismisses F1 title collapse link to ongoing McLaren woes

Oscar Piastri does not believe his collapse in the 2025 F1 title race is linked to his ongoing struggles in the 2026 season.

Following his last victory to date in the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, Piastri held a 34-point lead over team-mate Lando Norris and a 104-point advantage over Max Verstappen, with seven rounds remaining. 

However, a crash in qualifying in Azerbaijan was the start of a poor run of form, with the Australian jumping the start in Baku before crashing on the opening lap, before expressing fury in Singapore after being barged past by Norris at Turn 2 on the first lap.

Then, in the United States, Piastri was generally held responsible for triggering a first-corner shunt in the Sprint that also eliminated Norris, before crashing out of the Sao Paulo Sprint. 

In the Singapore-United States-Mexico City-Sao Paulo leg, Piastri finished fourth once and fifth three times, as Norris and Verstappen hit top form, with Piastri's fifth in Mexico coming as Norris won to climb to the top of the standings.

Piastri and Norris were then disqualified in Las Vegas for plank wear, with McLaren's strategy faux pas in Qatar then meaning an easy win became second to Verstappen as Norris ultimately won the title on 423 points, with Verstappen in second on 421 and Piastri third on 410, having led the table for 15 of the 24 rounds after a fast start, which included five wins in the first nine races.

In 2026, Piastri has claimed just two podium finishes all season, and has not finished in the top three since the Miami Grand Prix, with an average finishing place of 7.1 in the 16 races since, with Norris claiming three victories in a difficult MCL40 machine.

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has put Piastri's struggles down to his inability to adapt quickly to the new way the 2026 cars must be driven, with lack of downforce meaning the cars are subject to constant micro-corrections, something opposed to Piastri's uber-smooth driving style.

Reflecting on a tough season, Piastri explained that as far as he was concerned, his 2025 collapse has had no impact on his 2026 woes - and that he is "under no illusions" at the scale of the challenge in recapturing his best form. 

"I'll be using the off-season to have a bit of a reset, have a bit of a rethink, and [having] a clear start is going to be useful," Piastri told the Up to Speed podcast.

"I don't think these problems are going to solve themselves in an off-season without putting a lot of effort into it, so there's definitely going to be a lot of hard work involved. 

"The cars will evolve. The regulations are changing a little bit again next year, and we have to see what kind of tyres we have next year, because that can also make a difference. 

"I'm under no illusion that it's magically going to be different next year. But I think, honestly, in some ways, last year going the way it did, I think if it had gone better last year, it would have made this year even more painful. 

"I think a lot of the struggles this year, or all the struggles this year, are unrelated to what happened last year. It's been a separate issue, and this year has definitely taught me a lot. I feel like I'm getting on top of some of these struggles. 

"Maybe not as consistently as I would like at the moment, but I think even Brazil qualifying didn't go to plan. But actually, the pace I had in the race was the strongest I've had for a long time. So, there are definitely signs of positives there. 

"It is definitely one of those things where I'm going to have to go and grab it and pull things in the direction I want rather than hoping things come to me naturally."

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Piastri continues on title collapse

When then asked why his title challenge had unravelled towards the end of the season, Piastri indicated he would do certain things "differently."

"[It was] for a number of reasons, really," he began.

"I think there were a couple of places where I just struggled for pace, and I think again some of those specifics are also present this year. I think also as a team we would definitely do some things a bit differently if we did it again. 

"The impact of some of those things was big sometimes. And again, I think as a team we know what we would do differently if we were in that position this year. 

"We've not had to worry about that because that's not the position we've been in. But I think some things would be done differently."