Oscar Piastri has detailed why he has struggled for pace in 2026 ahead of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, with his last victory now a full year ago.
Piastri has endured a challenging 2026, failing to win a race, while teammate and reigning world champion Lando Norris has secured two victories.
The Australian’s season is in stark contrast to 2025, when he mounted a championship bid and remained in the running until the final round.
His performances have been inconsistent this year, securing two podiums in the opening three races but has yet to return to the rostrum.
Zandvoort proved to be another challenging weekend, watching on as Norris took a second consecutive victory while Piastri finished sixth, over thirty seconds behind his teammate.
Ahead of the weekend’s action in. Monza, Piastri elaborated on his pace struggles, stating he wanted answers.
“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 said to media, including Motorsport Week when asked if he had pinpointed the problem.
“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.
Different issues compounding problem for Oscar Piastri?
Piastri admitted that is not just one issue causing his problems, with a narrow operating window of the MCL40 compounding his quest to turn the tide on his lack of pace.
“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.”
Piastri faces a difficult road back to the top step of the podium, but his determination to improve will go a long way in turning the tide.
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