Oscar Piastri navigating F1 'spiral' tightrope as ongoing struggles explained

Oscar Piastri has explained how it is "very easy" to have a "spiral in either direction" as he tries to navigate himself out of the poor run of form in 2026.

Piastri is struggling to master the new breed of F1 car in 2026, with the cars having had their downforce slashed compared to their 2025 cousins, where the Australian led the title race for 15 rounds and won seven grands prix. 

He has now gone a full calendar year since his last win, at the 2025 Dutch GP, with his struggles lying in not being able to adapt to the constant micro-corrections needed with the 2026 cars, with his driving style usually being remarkably smooth, in a clash of contrasting styles.

It is a style which suits team-mate Lando Norris, who leads Piastri by three places and 55 points in the standings, with McLaren boss Andrea Stella firmly believing that Piastri's woes are purely a technical issue as he cannot drive through "pure instinct." 

After the Dutch GP, where he finished sixth, 32.332s behind team-mate Norris, who won, Piastri was determined to find answers for his poor performance, something he now believes he has, as he also offered insight into the fine line he is walking.

"Yes, I think we have. I think it's not kind of the one problem that keeps recurring; it's kind of like always chasing something a little bit different, and we need to try and find it a bit quicker, both myself and the team around me, Piastri told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he had found answers behind his lack of pace.

"The positive from Zandvoort was that the qualifying at least looked significantly better and back to the level it should be at, and the process we're going through is just trying to extend that to the races. Obviously, the car is quite different in a race compared to every single lap, but I feel like we've got some pretty good answers to why Zandvoort, particularly, was challenging. 

"We're making good progress with that. We just need time and some experimentation to find some things that are going to make us quicker. But I'm confident that we're finding the right answers and finding a way forward. 

"It is not as straightforward as: 'It's just low grip.' I think this year, in particular, how I naturally like to drive a car is not necessarily the best way to drive these cars, and sometimes it has been, sometimes it's not, and I think that's going to be a little bit of the challenge. 

"It's not been the same issue that we've run into every time and I think for me, it's just about trying to find that right direction, the things that make this car work, and at points we've been able to find it.

"At other points, we've tried a lot and not been able to find it. So it's not as simple as that. But when you're comfortable in the car, everything just becomes much easier. 

"It's very easy to have a spiral in both directions, both a positive spiral where things feel comfortable; you've got more capacity to think about it. Everything becomes a bit more subconscious, and it just becomes easy, almost. 

"Then if things aren't comfortable, you've got to think about it a lot more. You're not driving on instinct anymore, and that's why it can quite quickly unravel.

"I don't think we're at that point by any stretch of the imagination, but it's certainly not come particularly easily so far in finding solutions quickly. I think we've always kind of found solutions eventually; it's more about how we can catch things a bit quicker and adapt a bit quicker through the weekend. 

"There are a lot of various things. It's not as simple as just struggling with this one thing, there are a lot of things tied up."