Oscar Piastri Confirms McLaren Changes for 2026 F1 Season

McLaren is set to make tweaks to its 'Papaya rules' for the 2026 Formula 1 season after creating "headaches" last term.

The team based in Woking, England, dominated to secure the constructors' championship at the Singapore Grand Prix, before Lando Norris won the drivers' title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

But the teams' triumph in Singapore was overshadowed by fallout from its internal rules after a clash between Norris and Oscar Piastri on the first lap, the Australian was disgruntled that his teammate was allowed to hold position after contact at Turn 3.

That followed on from controversies at the British and Italian Grands Prix: Piastri feeling he should have been given the win at Silverstone by virtue of a swap with Norris after being hit with what he perceived was a harsh penalty for a safety car infringement, before a swap was performed at Monza after the British driver fell behind following a slow pitstop.

McLaren, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri — McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battle for the lead at the 2025 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. | McLaren Racing

Rule changes

Team principal Andrea Stella had suggested that changes would be made to the so-called Papaya rules, but that they would remain in place for the new campaign, with Piastri confirming this as a wise decision.

"For me, as Andrea said, streamlining it is a wise decision to make," said Piastri, as per RacingNews365. "We've probably caused some headaches for ourselves that we didn't need to at points last year.

"As a general principle, and a general way of going racing, it does bring a lot of positives with it. It's just how do we refine that to try and keep it to just positives, basically.

"There is always a lot more made out about it than actually happens. There are a lot of hypothetical situations, and a lot of people who think without knowing the complete inner workings. A lot of things appear differently from how they actually are.

"So yeah, some tweaks for sure this year. But I think it's pretty clear that we still want to go racing as much as a team as we can."

Patiently waiting for team launch ⏳

On a scale of 1-10, how hyped are we? 🤩#McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/dFcELTChZw
— McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team 🧡 (@McLarenF1) February 5, 2026

Piastri enters the new season hoping to avenge the loss of the 2025 drivers' title, having been in such a strong position with 10 races to go.

He had held a 34-point lead over Norris after the Dutch Grand Prix, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen a further 70 points back, only to finish behind both drivers at the end of the campaign.

After the first week of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, teams now face two more tests at the Bahrain International Circuit before arriving at the first race of the season in Australia.

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