Source : ABC NEWS
With a brand new car to wrap his head around, Oscar Piastri has put the disappointment of 2025 behind him as Formula 1’s new season begins in Melbourne.
By any metric, Piastri’s third season in F1 was terrific. The McLaren driver won seven grands prix and established himself as one of the finest drivers on the grid.
However, the Melburnian ended the 2025 season with plenty of what ifs, finishing third in the drivers’ championship by just 13 points after holding a 34-point advantage with nine rounds remaining.
But F1 in 2026 is starting afresh, with chassis and engine regulations overhauled in one of the biggest changes the competition has undertaken.
The 2026 cars are lighter, have less downforce and more electrical power. Driving styles will need to change as well, with drivers needing to be strategic about when to apply power and when to harvest energy during each lap to optimise the power unit.
The major rule changes set the scene for the season opener at Albert Park, where the only certainty is uncertainty as a new era of F1 begins.
It is this uncertainty that Piastri, along with the other 21 drivers on the 2026 grid, dive into this weekend.
For the Australian, having a new project to learn and understand has been a valuable tool, helping him leave the disappointment of 2025 in the past, and look forward to his newest challenge.
“There’s been plenty to get stuck into and there is plenty still more to learn,” he told media during a private session ahead of the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
The 24-year-old said the pain of missing out on the drivers’ championship last season, won by his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, did hurt in the immediate aftermath of the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
But an off-season back in Australia with loved ones allowed Piastri to also reflect on the positives of what was a highly successful campaign.
“The first few days straight after the race [in Abu Dhabi], were obviously difficult, as you would expect,” Piastri said.
“But once I got home and was able to spend some time with family and friends, then it was just nice to think of all the good moments that happened as well, not just some of the painful ones.”
Teams have had six days of preseason testing in Bahrain and an unofficial week in Barcelona to understand the cars they have built ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
The new generation of cars have less downforce than their predecessor, while the power units will produce nearly three times as much electrical power as before.
But the new power units require drivers to constantly ensure they have harvested enough energy to achieve optimal lap times.
That means drivers will not be able to drive flat out all the time, strategically needing to balance all-out pace and energy harvesting.
Not all drivers have been thrilled with the new cars, with four-time world champion Max Verstappen saying the demand for drivers to focus on energy harvesting rather than purely racing “is just not Formula 1”.
Whether the new changes improve the spectacle for fans remains to be seen, but they will be one of the early talking points the season.
“Every time you take downforce off a race car, it’s not that much fun, but you get use to it quickly,’ Piastri said of racing the new F1 cars.
“I think the power unit is the biggest change for us all to get used to, at the moment. I think it’s going to be interesting to see how the racing looks as well.”
Last season McLaren came into the season opener as the overwhelming favourite. Norris won went on to win the race from pole, while Piastri finished ninth, having spun out of second place late in the grand prix.
McLaren would go on to claim a second-straight constructors’ championship convincingly, but the outlook for 2026 is not as favourable for the Papaya team.
While their performance in preseason testing looked promising, Mercedes appeared to have built a very competitive car to start the new season, while Ferrari and Red Bull also have moments to feel buoyed about.
When asked if he could become the first Aussie since Alan Jones in 1980 to win the Australian Grand Prix — before the race was on the F1 calendar — Piastri was cautious in what he believed could be achieved this weekend.
“The honest answer is, I have no idea,” he said.
“I think based off testing, we seem like we’re in the mix at the front.
“Certainly wouldn’t be saying that we’re the favourite to be winning, and I don’t think the picture looks quite as positive for us at the moment as it did 12 months ago.
“But I think the big caveat to that, for everyone, is there’s so much potential still unexplored.”
ABC Sport will have live blog coverage of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, March 8.
