Oscar Piastril Blasts McLaren “Disadvantage” Claims Ahead of 2026 Season

Oscar Piastri has firmly denied the possibility of McLaren being at a disadvantage because of being a customer to Mercedes' power unit.

Oscar Piastril Blasts McLaren “Disadvantage” Claims Ahead of 2026 Season

Oscar Piastri (via IMAGO)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Oscar Piastri has completely denied the possibility of McLaren being at a disadvantage ahead of the beginning of the 2026 season. Mercedes has reportedly come up with the best power unit out of all manufacturers on the grid. As such, Woking will also reap the benefits of a dominant engine developed by the German carmaker.

The McLaren crew, including Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, were delighted after Mercedes was leading development in the power unit side of things. Despite positive indicators early on, Woking is managing expectations and hoping to start the season on the best note possible. Piastri reckoned that McLaren being a customer team to Mercedes did not necessarily mean that they were at a disadvantage.

Oscar Piastri accepted the advantage that Mercedes had ahead of the commencement of the 2026 season. With the beginning of the new regulations, the development on the engine side of things will resume once again, and it could be a massive unknown for both McLaren and Mercedes. Regardless, Pisatri asserted the good relationship between Woking and Mercedes HPP, which was beneficial to the Papaya Squad.

I don’t think [so] necessarily, Being a works team obviously has its advantages – especially now, given that there is development again on the engine side of things. We’ve got a very close relationship with Mercedes HPP, which is very beneficial to us.

Oscar Piastri said, as reported by RacingNews365.

Further, Oscar Piastri revealed that the ‘teething problems’ faced by McLaren during the private test session in Barcelona were not because of being a works team. As such, the Aussie firmly believed that the British constructor was not at a disadvantage. Though Piastri accepted that Woking might be a bit behind in terms of development compared to the rivals, they were working on their development for quite some time as well.

All our teething problems we had in the [Barcelona] test were not to do with not being a works team. So I don’t think there’s necessarily a disadvantage. We may little bit behind in what you said, that they’ve had years to kind of really integrate these rules to their car, but we’ve been in that process for a long time as well.

Oscar Piastri added.

Oscar Piastri reveals ‘impressive’ factor about Mercedes development

Apart from McLaren, Mercedes will supply power units to Alpine and Williams as well. Hence, a lot of the teams are depending on the German carmaker’s success in developing the power units. Still, the team will need to work on their own aerodynamics and challengers to achieve success on track. Now, Oscar Piastri opens up on how Mercedes showed up with impressive performance during the initial testing sessions.

Zak Brown and Oscar Piastri (via Getty)
Zak Brown and Oscar Piastri (via Getty)

Oscar Piastri highlighted that the 2025 season was going to be about which team could capitalize on the past year of aero testing and development. The impressive factor about Mercedes was how they showed up to the private testing in Barcelona and hit the ground-runing on each and every day. Brackley was able to run 150 laps or so on the first day, which was certainly impressive from the German carmaker.

It’s more going to be about who was able to capitalise in the last 12 months on the aero testing and just getting things organised, that’s what was very impressive about Mercedes in particular, how they hit the ground running and were able to do 150-plus laps every day, which is probably the most impressive thing so far.

Oscar Piastri noted.

The 2026 season is looking promising in terms of delivering exciting racing action. Multiple teams have already started development and are hoping to start the season on a positive note. For now, multiple teams are managing expectations. McLaren will aim to keep up with their winning momentum of the past couple of seasons and build on it in the new regulations.

Continue Reading: Christian Horner Reveals Key Condition for Possible F1 Return After Red Bull Exit