Oscar Piastri calls for F1 2026 reform, warns cars are a 'recipe for disaster'

After Bahrain Test 1, several drivers have raised both performance and safety concerns for the 2026 regulations, which have produced cars with more unpredictable aerodynamics and a heavy reliance on energy recovery due to a 50/50 split between electrical power and internal combustion.

Piastri’s comments come as McLaren team principal Andrea Stella also said it is “imperative” that the FIA address race starts and overtaking, hoping a “compromise” can be achieved at the F1 Commission meeting next week.

Speaking to media, including GPblog, Piastri shared his concerns for the new rules when one journalist pointed out that he did not look particularly enamoured with what he had experienced at the Bahrain test.

Piastri responded: "Well, I think it's just complex. There's a lot of things that we've never had to do before and they are just challenging by nature because some of them are not very instinctive and when you've kind of driven a certain way for the last 15 years.

"It's pretty tough to undo some of those things, especially when some of them are lifting on straights or stuff like that that, obviously as a driver, you never want to be lifting at any point.

"Ultimately they are cars that are slower and have less downforce and probably more power out of the corners, so they're always going to feel difficult to drive and tricky and that aspect is kind of one thing and then there's all the aspects that are new and need some reform."

Piastri also said he sees the extended testing for 2026 as necessary not only in terms of performance but a "borderline safety point of view," echoing Stella's comments on race starts and overtaking when asked on which safety concerns he had in particular.

"I think the starts are probably the most obvious one for now. Overtaking, you know, it's always going to be tough to manage until you've actually had a race. You know, whether we use straight mode at the start or not as well, because I think a pack of 22 cars with a couple hundred points less downforce sounds like a recipe for disaster to me."

Piastri's team principal Andrea Stella made headlines after arguing for 'imperative' changes to the F1 2026 regulations, expressing concerns around race starts, overtaking, and the possibility of collisions caused by excessive lifting and coasting.

The 54-year-old even claimed the latter could lead to situations similar to Mark Webber's dramatic crash in Valencia at the 2010 European Grand Prix.