Oscar Piastri Warns of “Big Pitfalls” Over New F1 Start Concerns

Oscar Piastri has remained a big critic of the new F1 race start procedures from the 2026 season as he reveals the 'big pitfalls' for the teams.

Oscar Piastri Warns of “Big Pitfalls” Over New F1 Start Concerns

Oscar Piastri (via F1)

In Short
  • Oscar Piastri expresses concerns over the new F1 race start procedures, citing potential safety issues.
  • Drivers face challenges due to the removal of the MGU-H component, making race starts more difficult.
  • Piastri believes teams will need time to adapt, with significant variability in performance during initial races.

The F1 race start procedures have remained one of the biggest talking points leading up to the 2026 season. Oscar Piastri is certainly not a big fan of the regulations, especially the race start procedures. Notably, Piastri was one of the many who couldn’t pull off the car following the lights going off during the trial race start. Now, the Aussie reveals his concerns with the ‘big pitfalls’ in the new race start procedure.

The removal of the MGU-H component in the power units meant that the drivers needed to wait for the engine to spool up before enabling the turbo. Many drivers faced difficulty during the race start and hence could not move their cars. Oscar Piastri believed that this was borderline unsafe and could prove to be fatal for the drivers.

Now, Oscar Piastri has continued his previous tirade against the race start procedures under the 2026 F1 regulations. The Aussie highlighted that the starts were very random at the moment. However, Piastri reckoned that all teams were going through the learning process of what was a good start vs a bad start.

Oscar Piastri noted that there were some pretty big pitfalls for the teams, and they could get in trouble if they messed up the race start. The 24-year-old continued that the race starts were also much more difficult compared to the previous years. Piastri added that the 2026 challengers still possessed a lot of power as the MGU-K kicked in at a certain point. Still, it was trickier from every single angle.

It’s just very random at the moment, and we’re all kind of learning what makes a good start, what makes a bad start, There are some pretty big pitfalls you can find if you get yourself in trouble.  The procedure is one thing, but also just the way we do starts is much more difficult than last year.  You’ve got a lot of power. The MGU-K kicks in at a certain point. It’s trickier from every single angle. 

Oscar Piastri said, as reported by RacingNews365.

Oscar Piastri hopes to ‘converge’ and learn race starts much better

The teams and drivers will face a steep learning curve in order to perform well over the 2026 season. The regulations certainly aren’t simple, and the electric side of things does not make it easier. However, with time, many teams will gain great learnings and continue to develop their cars. As such, Oscar Piastri hopes that McLaren converges the learnings and starts races much better than anticipated.

Oscar Piastri (via F1)
Oscar Piastri (via F1)

Oscar Piastri highlighted that the current race start scenario showcased that some teams got everything right, while others were completely wrong. The Aussie predicts that the race starts in the initial few races will remain insignificant. However, he is sure that everyone will converge pretty quickly, especially those who are on the bad side of things regarding the race starts.

What we’re seeing at the moment is people just getting things right and other people getting them very wrong. Certainly, in the first few races, we could see some starts that look a bit like what we have this week. We’ll start to converge, hopefully pretty quickly, if you’re on the bad side of that.

Oscar Piastri noted.

The 2026 season could prove to be difficult for many teams on track. Still, Mercedes is reportedly at the forefront of development, and this could directly contribute to McLaren’s success. However, the Papaya Squad is managing expectations and not dreaming of a picture-perfect start.

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