<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri expects his McLaren team to be in the mix for victory at this weekend\u2019s Australian Grand Prix, but the Melburnian thinks the Albert Park circuit will bring out the most \u201cunnatural\u201d characteristics of the newly designed 2026 cars.<\/p>\n
Australia is the first nation to host a grand prix since sweeping changes to the regulations for both chassis and power unit, shaking up the competitive order established in 2025.<\/p>\n
McLaren starts the campaign as the defending constructors champion after a dominant 2025 season. Lando Norris is the reigning drivers champion, with teammate Piastri having finished just 13 points short of claiming the title for himself.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not clear whether McLaren has been able to continue the momentum of back-to-back constructors titles across regulation changes.<\/p>\n
Pre-season testing, though notoriously difficult to interpret, suggests that Mercedes and Ferrari will start the year as the teams to beat.<\/p>\n
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella backed up that interpretation last week, when he declared McLaren would start the campaign with a \u201cdefensive\u201d posture with the hope of fighting its back into the championship later in the season.<\/p>\n
Though he admitted McLaren has likely lost its advantage and that he had \u201cno idea\u201d whether he would be in a position to win Sunday\u2019s race, Piastri said all the leading teams had left a lot of performance on the table during testing given the newness of the rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly wouldn\u2019t be saying that we\u2019re the favourite to be winning, and I don\u2019t 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\u2019s so much potential still unexplored,\u201d he told select media, including Fox Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think even through testing the amount of stuff we learned, the amount of performance we gained through six days of testing, if you had have turned up here with the car we had at the first day of testing, we\u2019d probably be in the midfield or at the back, to be honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting on top of things early is going to be important. Melbourne\u2019s going to be a very different circuit to especially Bahrain but even Barcelona, where we\u2019ve tested, from just the layout point of view but also some of the challenges that presents for the power units. It\u2019s going to look pretty different from how we have to drive the cars from any other circuit we\u2019ve been to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the mix, but we need to find a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
PIT TALK<\/i> PODCAST: With just days before the opening grand prix of the season, Michael and Matt run the rule over the field to come up with a form guide for Melbourne \u2014 including the clear standout and Formula 1\u2019s crisis team of 2026.<\/b><\/p>\n
The competitive order will likely rest on a combination of who has the best power unit and who has the deepest understanding of how to best manage electrical energy.<\/p>\n
The new cars are powered by an almost equal 50-50 split of combustion and electrical power, but a fully charged battery will drain in less than 20 seconds down the straight, even with output limited at 350 kilowatts.<\/p>\n
Keeping the battery charged will require drivers to lift off the throttle and coast into the braking zones at the end of the straights, while the engines will also automatically redirect power from the combustion engine to the battery at various points of the circuit.<\/p>\n
Albert Park is expected to be among the most difficult circuits for keeping the battery charged due to its fast layout with few big braking zones, requiring drivers to take those regeneration strategies to their extremes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in Melbourne especially we\u2019ll see some of the more unnatural differences,\u201d Piastri said. \u201cA lot more lift and coast, a lot more driving to maximise the power unit. It\u2019s going to be different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cars are also not as fast as what we had last year, and from a lap time point of view there\u2019s not as much downforce \u2014 every time you take downforce off a race car, it\u2019s never that much fun, but you get used to it quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe power unit is definitely the biggest change for us all to get used to at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting to see how racing looks as well, because \u2026 you\u2019ve got power units that are reducing in power down the straights at different points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of lot of unknowns and lot of challenges in there. I think it\u2019s going to be an important weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kayo & Fox Sports secure new F1 Deal | 03:40<\/p>\n
He also expected to see concerns about the difficulty of getting the cars off the line from a standing start to be realised.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the start will be chaos,\u201d he said. \u201cI say that in just an exciting way \u2014 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be dangerous or ridiculous. I think there\u2019s just going to be more variation to starts than what we\u2019ve had for the past few years.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, maybe five or 10 metres has separated the whole field, which is two car lengths. This year some of the bad starts we\u2019ve seen through testing are significantly worse than just 10 metres different.<\/p>\n \u201cI think from that side of things the start will probably be more exciting.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone honestly knows how racing is going to go. The cars should be a bit easier to follow with a bit less downforce, but we\u2019ll see if that\u2019s reality.<\/p>\n \u201cReliability is probably going to be a factor as well, so I think it will be exciting one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of his odds of victory, Piastri said he was looking forward to starting the year with his home grand prix.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always cool,\u201d he said. \u201cI think for me the support\u2019s gone up every year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe support I had in the off-season, the support I had even yesterday doing a few bits and pieces around the city, it\u2019s gone up a level from last year, which is really special to see.<\/p>\n \u201cI think for me it\u2019s just pride, really, and the feeling of support.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving your home race is really special, but having it in my home city as well is another step up from that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n