Oscar Piastri issues 'significant' declaration over F1 2026 fears

Oscar Piastri has shut down fears that F1 has lost its identity with the introduction of the new cars for the upcoming season.

Various changes have been made to the cars, including boosting the electrical output of the power unit, which now matches the combustion engine.

The cars made their on-track debut at the Barcelona shakedown last week as drivers got their first taste of the challengers.

In the build-up to the season, it was theorised that the drivers would have to use different techniques than before to extract pace - including downshifting on long straights as part of the energy deployment management.

Mercedes' George Russell declared the downshifting strategy has become a reality, but asserted it does not feel abnormal.

Despite the major change, Piastri insisted the cars still feel like F1 machines. 

“I don’t think it’s lost its identity at all,” Piastri told media including RacingNews365.

“I think there are going to be some things to get used to.

“But in terms of some of the fears that maybe we had before we got on track, I think a significant majority of those have been alleviated now.

“That’s not to say that there aren’t things that could be improved still.

“But in terms of lift and coast and stuff like that, we were all doing it before anyway - just for different reasons most likely.

“Maybe not necessarily in qualifying, that’s maybe going to look the most different, if I was to guess right now.”

Piastri added that watching the cars in person will remain as spectacular as before.

“I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like, and it’s probably going to change from circuit to circuit as we get used to how these engines work,” he said.

“But they’re still going to be incredibly quick machines. Sitting in the grandstands, watching live at the track, they’re going to be just as impressive.

“There will be some differences, but I think fundamentally, they are still the fastest cars in the world.”