McLaren F1 team faces performance slump as Oscar Piastri struggles in 2026

Andrea Stella, McLaren's technical director, said Oscar Piastri is still adapting to the low‑grip 2026 cars, which explains his irregular results. The Australian has missed the opening races in Australia and China, earned only two podiums (Japan and Miami), endured seven races without a podium and retired in Hungary after a gearbox failure and a collision with Carlos Sainz.

Team‑mate Lando Norris, who has three podiums including a win in Hungary, said the rivalry with Piastri pushes him to improve. McLaren as a whole has fallen behind Mercedes and Ferrari, with reliability problems causing both drivers to retire in more than half of the eleven races so far.