Oscar Piastri has criticised Formula 1’s latest rules package following Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, describing his wheel-to-wheel battle with George Russell as “random” and warning that closing speeds between cars remain dangerously high despite recent changes.
The McLaren driver experienced his first sustained racing action of 2026 at Miami after missing the opening two rounds and leading from the start at Suzuka. His verdict on the sport’s recent regulatory tweaks — introduced after driver concerns following the first three races — was blunt: they’ve achieved minimal improvement.
Qualifying Fix, Racing Unchanged
F1 implemented several changes ahead of Miami aimed at addressing high closing speeds that contributed to Oliver Bearman’s Suzuka crash and resolving qualifying performance concerns. Piastri acknowledged limited progress in one area but said racing remains fundamentally problematic.
“The reduced 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.”
The Australian driver repeatedly exchanged positions with Russell throughout the Miami race as their cars’ energy levels fluctuated due to harvesting and deployment patterns and the availability of Overtake Mode. The nature of those battles left Piastri frustrated with what he described as unpredictable racing.
“One Second Behind to Overtake by the End of That Straight”
Piastri highlighted the extreme closing speeds that persist despite the regulatory adjustments, citing a specific moment when Russell closed a one-second gap to complete an overtake on a single straight.
“At one point George was one second behind me and managed to overtake me by the end of that straight. It’s just a bit random. The closing speeds are huge and trying to anticipate that as the defending driver is incredibly tough to do.”
The McLaren driver admitted he found himself executing similar aggressive moves later in the race — manoeuvres he wasn’t entirely comfortable with — purely because the closing speed differential made them almost inevitable.
“Obviously for the overtaking driver, I wasn’t that pleased with one of the moves that George did, but I kind of found myself almost doing the same move about five laps later, just because the closing speed is enormous. So from that side of things, not much has really changed.”
Hardware Limits Reached
While Piastri praised the collaboration between the FIA and Formula 1 in attempting to address the issues, he believes the current regulations have reached their limit for meaningful improvement through minor adjustments.
“I think the collaboration from the FIA and F1 has been good, but there’s only so many things you can change with the hardware we have. So some changes in the future are I think still needed for sure. How quickly we can do it is the big question.”
The comments suggest fundamental changes may be required beyond the 2026 technical regulations — already the most significant overhaul in F1’s recent history with new chassis designs, power units running at approximately 50% electric deployment, and active aerodynamics. Despite those sweeping changes, the racing product continues to draw criticism from drivers on track.
F1’s next round takes place at Imola on 18 May, where Piastri and his rivals will continue racing under the current rules package while the sport considers what further modifications might be necessary to improve wheel-to-wheel competition.