Martin Brundle notes Oscar Piastri performance drop in 2026

Brundle notes Piastri performance drop

Martin Brundle says Oscar Piastri’s 2026 struggle to adapt to new regulations is "painful to witness" after the Australian’s strong 2025 campaign. Piastri currently sits in seventh place in the Drivers’ standings, trailing championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 221 points and his teammate Lando Norris by 67 points. This decline follows a summer in 2025 when Piastri led the title race on the back of a string of impressive drives before Norris eventually secured the championship for McLaren. During the United States Grand Prix in Texas, Piastri finished in seventh place after qualifying seventh, while Norris finished fifth after qualifying eighth. Brundle noted that Piastri lacks front-running pace and "simply can’t seem to gel with 2026 cars." Piastri, who has not stood on the rostrum since the Miami Grand Prix in May, suggested that the rate at which leading contenders improve their cars has overshadowed the improvements McLaren made with recent updates. These difficulties come as the team recently saw its competitiveness slip relative to rivals, resulting in McLaren falling to fourth place in the Constructors’ standings. Piastri’s struggles also occurred amid paddock rumors of a potential swap deal sending him to Red Bull while Max Verstappen moved to McLaren, though Verstappen signed a contract extension through 2030 in August.

McLaren struggles with car adaptability

McLaren faces a difficult period after failing to secure a podium finish in four consecutive races, marking the team’s longest such streak since 2023. Lando Norris described the MCL40 as "easily the hardest car I’ve ever driven in my life" due to significant issues in slow-speed corners. The team implemented team orders during the United States Grand Prix to allow Norris to overtake Piastri after the team observed Norris possessed better adaptability when the car slides. Andrea Stella explained that the decision followed pre-race discussions because Piastri struggled to build lap consistency as the track conditions changed. Piastri’s superpower is to build lap after lap once he creates references, but the changing conditions in Austin challenged this ability. Norris, whose superpower is being adaptive to conditions, briefly ran in second place late in the race using a one-stop strategy before falling to fifth behind Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton. In the same race, Piastri defended his position against George Russell in the closing stages. Russell, who took a five-second penalty at his first pit stop, finished eighth, 54 seconds behind his teammate. Stella emphasized that the team cares about the interests of the team and aims to return to the front before managing internal competition.

Future upgrade plans for the MCL40

The team will not bring significant upgrades to the Mexico City Grand Prix. Stella confirmed that while Mexico will see only a small selection of parts, the team plans to introduce more upgrades in Brazil and Las Vegas. These developments aim to help the team compete consistently for podiums and regain the competitiveness needed to fight for race victories. Norris added that the car loses almost three tenths of a second per lap in slow-speed corners, which is a problem the team finds challenging to tackle. Piastri and Norris both noted that while they continue to push, the improvements from other teams are making it harder to maintain their previous position. The team regressed after their Madrid pole position, even though they saw back-to-back victories in Budapest and Zandvoort after a Hungarian upgrade. Norris, who has claimed three pole positions this year, said that qualifying remains a weakness as the team focuses on the remaining rounds, which include Brazil from November 6-8 and Las Vegas from November 20-22.