Piastri raises closing speed concern despite F1 rule tweaks at Miami GP

Arriving with F1's move to a 50:50 power unit split between electrical power and internal combustion has been a widespread concern with closing speeds - only raised further by Haas' Ollie Bearman's 50G crash at Suzuka behind an energy-harvesting Franco Colapinto at Spoon Curve.

Prior to Miami, the FIA introduced tweaks to the regulations to address closing speeds, in the shape of capping the amount of energy delivered by Boost Mode to +150kW, as well as limiting MGU-K deployment to 250kW at certain parts of the lap. However, Piastri, who got his first real taste of 2026 racing action in Miami, is not convinced enough has been done to address the safety issue.

Speaking to media, including GPblog, at the post-race press conference, Piastri, alongside teammate Lando Norris and winner Kimi Antonelli, was asked to reflect on the new tweaks introduced in Miami. Piastri began by praising the reduction to harvesting in Qualifying, but was not as complimentary when it came to the racing.

Piastri said: "I think the reducing the harvest limit in qualifying has helped a bit. It’s not fixed the problem or all the problems, but it’s helping with one. The races are basically exactly the same, and I think today was my first proper experience of overtaking people and then having to defend and stuff like that. It’s pretty crazy, to be honest."

Piastri reflected on his battle with Russell in Miami. At one stage during the race, the McLaren driver called out the Briton for a "super dangerous" move, but when talking to the media, he suggested that he understood the difficulties of overtaking in the new machinery after trying a similar move on Russell just a few laps later.

Piastri's McLaren teammate Norris was also pleased that the FIA had made "a step in the right direction" with the changes, but warned that F1 is not at the level it should be just yet, reiterating a stance he took on Saturday that drivers were still being "penalised" for going quick in Qualifying.

Norris said: "It’s a small step in the right direction, but it’s not to the level that Formula 1 should still be at yet. I think we said yesterday still in qualifying, if you go flat out everywhere and you try pushing like you were in previous years, you still just get penalised for it.