With the F1 title out of reach, Piastri's finding freedom to experiment

McLaren's Oscar Piastri says he has been able to take a more experimental approach to his driving during the current Formula 1 season since he's not dealing with the title pressure he was facing in 2025.

McLaren had the dominant car in the first part of last season before Max Verstappen made it a three-way championship battle in the latter stages. Under new regulations this year, McLaren has not been able to compete with Mercedes on a regular basis and only secured its first win of the season in Budapest, but Piastri has taken one positive from the less competitive situation.

“Results-wise, Japan and Miami were both good weekends,” Piastri said. “I think also Austria was a good one. The result was reasonable, with the P4, but also in terms of the turnaround from Barcelona and just how I felt the weekend went. Barcelona was definitely one of the more difficult weekends of the year, and I had to learn a lot from that one and improve quite a lot, and I feel like Austria was really good to bounce back and put some of that learning into place.

“I think the good results have been one thing, but I feel like I've also learned a lot about how I can improve myself as a driver, even if the results don't always show it.

“The stakes aren't quite as high at the moment as what they were, especially compared to last year. Obviously, you’re still trying to do your absolute best and get the best result you can, but there's a little bit less pressure, which means you’re able to try new things and experiment a little bit more, and see how you can improve.”

After struggling to match Lando Norris in phases of the Hungarian Grand Prix prior to the summer break, Piastri is keen to show further improvements after the shutdown.

“It's always about trying to improve and trying to learn more things," he said. "Anything that I can learn that's going to help me when we're in a stronger position again is only going to be a good thing.

“In terms of results, I would love to be able to be challenging for wins again, as I did at the Hungaroring. If we can start challenging for wins then we can start thinking about what we can achieve in the championship. But first and foremost, we need to just make sure we're getting the most out of the car and ourselves every weekend. Then if we've got the car to be able to win, then we can try to win.”