Oscar Piastri expresses serious safety concerns ahead of the Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 8. The McLaren driver fears chaos at the start due to the new low-downforce cars, which remain untested in race conditions.
Post-Testing Concerns
Following a productive day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, where Piastri completed 161 laps and finished fourth quickest behind a Mercedes 1-2 led by Kimi Antonelli, the 24-year-old Australian highlighted multiple issues. He stressed the need to address start procedures and overtaking challenges before the Melbourne race, given the major revisions to F1 cars, rules, and regulations for 2026.
“Starts need to be addressed, because it’s a pretty complicated process now to have a safe start, let alone a competitive one,” Piastri stated after the final testing session at Sakhir. “There’s plenty of topics to address. Starts, and overtaking is certainly going to be different as well.”
‘Recipe for Disaster’
Piastri warned that launching 22 cars with significantly reduced downforce could spell trouble. “Whether we use straight mode at the start or not, a pack of 22 cars with a couple hundred points less downforce sounds like a recipe for disaster to me,” he said. “Everyone’s going to need different things for the start, and I’m not sure any of us know exactly what we need yet. There’s so many things from an even borderline safety point of view that need to be figured out on track.”
Chaotic Practice Start
Drivers encountered disarray during a practice start, though Piastri attributed it to miscommunication rather than the new power units. He failed to launch his McLaren after receiving instructions to wait for the car ahead. “I got told to wait until whoever was in front of me had gone and then do my own launch, and not do it to the lights. Clearly, some other people had a different idea,” he explained.
Team Competitiveness
Piastri offered a cautious assessment of the testing hierarchy, noting that McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari appeared as the frontrunners. “Where we are in the pecking order, I don’t know. It kind of looks like the top-four teams are still the top-four teams,” he remarked.
Mercedes’ George Russell, who posted the second-fastest time ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in third, suggested Red Bull holds a “pretty scary” edge, with Max Verstappen fifth overall. Red Bull countered by praising Mercedes’ strong showing as psychological battles intensify before Melbourne.
