Martin Brundle Rethinks Oscar Piastri's Progress at McLaren

Martin Brundle, the seasoned voice of F1 commentary, recently offered a glimmer of hope to fans of Oscar Piastri, suggesting that the young Australian driver was beginning to turn the tide after a forgettable season at McLaren. Prior to the United States Grand Prix, Brundle noted Piastri’s signs of progress, such as qualifying third at Monza before a penalty and coming close to a podium in Azerbaijan. In Malaysia and Singapore, Piastri managed commendable top-six finishes, showing he could tap into the car’s potential.

However, Brundle's optimism took a hit after the race in Austin. Despite Lando Norris having a superior lap time erased due to track limit issues, Piastri had shown improvement against his teammate in qualifying, outperforming him in four of the last seven sessions. Yet, during the race, Piastri had to yield to Norris early on due to a clear pace deficit, a move already planned by McLaren.

Piastri managed to fend off George Russell for seventh place, but finished significantly behind Norris, over 22 seconds adrift, despite running a nearly identical strategy. Post-race, Piastri admitted his pace was 'pretty bad' and expressed confusion over the cause. Brundle’s earlier optimism evaporated as he noted the Australian's ongoing struggle to adapt to the 2026 cars, a problem exacerbated by the season’s significant reduction in downforce.

In his Sky Sports F1 column, Brundle praised Norris for his fifth-place finish, achieved by stretching his hard compound tyres over 40 laps. In contrast, he described Piastri's race as another disappointment, pointing out the driver's challenges in adjusting to the new car dynamics. Piastri now finds himself 67 points behind Norris in the standings, a stark contrast to the mere 13-point gap at the close of last season.

As winter approaches, Piastri will collaborate closely with McLaren's engineers to tweak his driving style, which leans towards smooth inputs, to better suit the 2026 cars. The aim is to overcome the induced sliding due to reduced downforce and regain competitiveness in the coming season.