Oscar Piastri Shuts Down Mercedes ‘Secret Advantage’ Claims

Oscar Piastri is of the opinion that Mercedes does not have a secret advantage over the rivals, especially McLaren in the 2026 season.

Oscar Piastri Shuts Down Mercedes ‘Secret Advantage’ Claims

Oscar Piastri (via IMAGO)

In Short
  • Oscar Piastri denies claims of Mercedes having a 'secret advantage' over customer teams.
  • He attributes Mercedes' pace to better downforce and power unit utilization, not magic.
  • Piastri emphasizes the need for McLaren to improve downforce to enhance performance.

Mercedes has started the new regulations on the right foot and achieved consecutive one-two finishes in the first two races. Meanwhile, the customer teams such as McLaren, Alpine, and Williams are suffering from massive problems. Now, Oscar Piastri boldly shuts down Brackley being at an untoward advantage with their own power units as the customer teams struggle in pace.

Oscar Piastri has yet to even start a race in the 2026 season amid struggles in the McLaren challenger. At the season opener, the Australian GP, Piastri suffered from an embarrassing crash during the practice formation lap in front of the home crowd. Meanwhile, Mercedes has been in a league of their own and is on the trajectory to win every race of the season if they keep up with development.

Despite Mercedes’ success, its power unit customer teams are suffering from a disappointing bout. Upon this, Oscar Piastri believes that there is ‘no magic’ in their pace advantage. Rather, Brackley has simply found a method to gain additional downforce in the car and overall better balance. Moreover, Piastri accepted that the German carmaker was utilizing the power unit to the maximum.

There’s nothing magical about it, I think they just have probably more downforce. I think they’re using the power unit a bit better than us at the moment, and it’s as simple as that, really. There’s no magic.

Oscar Piastri said, as reported by motorsport.com.

The recent Chinese GP Sprint race was one session where Oscar Piastri fought against his rivals on track, where he finished in P6. Piastri recalled that Kimi Antonelli pulled away very quickly and was untouched in pace. The Aussie highlighted that McLaren was losing a bit of performance throughout the track. Ultimately, the 24-year-old believes that finding more downforce is the main opportunity to improve results.

When you’re sitting in the race car, Kimi [Antonelli] disappeared in front of me pretty quickly [after the safety car restart in the Chinese sprint race]. The more helpful tool is definitely looking at the data, and we’re losing a bit everywhere. There’s not really one area where we’re weak or one area that we’re strong in. It’s just a bit across the board, so I think just finding more downforce is our main opportunity.

Oscar Piastri added.

Oscar Piastri reveals Mercedes ‘clear advantage’ over the rivals in 2026

Currently, Mercedes seems to be challenged only by Ferrari in terms of sheer pace. However, the two teams are fighting during the beginning of the races, but cannot keep up with Brackley over the session. As such, Oscar Piastri reveals Ferrari’s ‘interesting’ situation, which is helping them perform better in the corners, but worse on the straights.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (via F1)
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (via F1)

Oscar Piastri believes that the biggest difference currently is in the Qualifying pace. He reflected that Mercedes had a clear advantage over the others. Still, Ferrari fighting Brackley during the starting moments of the races is quite interesting to witness. As such, Piastri reckoned that there is inspiration to improve more than one sector in the car.

I think the Ferrari is interesting as well because it almost looks like they’re even better in the corners, but maybe a bit worse on the straights – whether it’s the power unit or drag, I don’t know. It’s not just pure, qualifying pace. I think Mercedes has got a clear advantage over everybody. But the way that Ferrari are able to battle with them or contend with them at the start of races especially is quite interesting to see, so I think there’s inspiration in more than just one place.

Oscar Piastri noted.

The 2026 season has just begun, with two races being concluded. There are 20 more races to go over the year, which gives the teams plenty of time to develop their car. Moreover, if McLaren manages to take maximum advantage of the five-week break, they could return with a much refreshed pace. For now, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are simply managing expectations and giving it their all.

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