Oscar Piastri Says Red Bull Has Become “the class of the field” in F1 2026

Oscar Piastri has admitted that Red Bull Racing has stepped up to match Mercedes at the sharp end of the grid, leaving McLaren battling to recover lost ground in Formula 1’s competitive hierarchy. Following a developmental shift sparked at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Australian driver believes the reigning champions have regained their benchmark form after a commanding display across recent rounds.

Red Bull’s Aerodynamic Package Shifts the Competitive Order

The turning point arrived when Red Bull introduced an extensive update package to the RB22 in Baku, overhauling the sidepods, floor, mirrors, halo, and diffuser. The design revamp yielded immediate dividends, enabling Max Verstappen to fight George Russell for victory from eighth on the grid in Azerbaijan before claiming a dominant win at Sepang in Malaysia.

Assessing the front-running pace, Piastri pointed out the stark progression shown by their rivals. Mercedes have been very strong the whole season obviously, and I think Baku with the long straights there, it wasn’t a big surprise that they were so quick, Piastri commented. Considering how many straights there were in Malaysia, it was surprising they weren’t faster.

Piastri elaborated on the scale of Red Bull’s step forward: Whatever Red Bull put on their car in Baku clearly was big, because Baku kind of went under the radar for them with where they qualified and Max’s engine problem. If he’d had started at the front in Baku, it would have obviously put George under a lot of pressure [not just] at the end of the race but for the whole race. And then obviously in Malaysia he was definitely the quickest car-and-driver combination.

Reflecting on where McLaren now sits among the leading constructors, Piastri added: I definitely think the others around us are making progress. You know, us and Ferrari kind of seem to to and fro a little bit, but Mercedes have always been the class of the field, and I think Red Bull have kind of joined them in the last couple of weeks.

Development Stagnation and Technical Hurdles at McLaren

McLaren also delivered a major overhaul for the MCL40 in Azerbaijan—bringing updated sidepods, an altered engine cover, new floor, diffuser, rear suspension, and rear wing. While team principal Andrea Stella confirmed that the components functioned as intended, the development failed to yield the necessary relative performance gains against rival front-runners. The team, which previously celebrated victories with Lando Norris at the Hungaroring and Zandvoort, saw Piastri miss a podium in Baku due to a late lock-up before enduring a difficult Malaysian Grand Prix where both cars qualified and finished outside the top five.

The Woking-based outfit was further restricted by fuel injection issues over the past two events, though a technical fix has been implemented ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. Addressing the lessons learned from Malaysia, Norris explained: There were a fair few, both from my side, from us as a team, obviously from what happened in the race, but also just general things from a car point of view and what we need to do a better job in, and how can we get back to the same level as we were in the previous few – Budapest, Zandvoort, Madrid.

Norris highlighted specific areas where the MCL40 has struggled to keep pace: There were some obvious ones, such as the straightline speed and the issues I’ve been having with the car, and obviously more technical ones from how can we unlock more potential from the car to get back to the performance that we had previously. So that’s a tricky one to do, but there’s a lot of stuff and the team have been pretty flat out.

When asked if track characteristics accounted for their drop in form, Norris remarked: Well, Baku, we weren’t necessarily too quick either. So, I wouldn’t say just a Malaysia thing. There’s certainly some aspects of Malaysia with the roughness of the tarmac that we think did play a part. So, it’s a good thing for us to see this weekend if some of the performance that we were missing there does come back. And Singapore is a track I’ve enjoyed and we’ve been pretty good here over the last few years.

Norris, who took pole position and won at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in 2024, maintained an uncompromising view of the squad’s recent results: So yeah, certainly a little bit of it is track layout, and the last couple of tracks have not been to the same strengths as what we’ve seen in Madrid and some of the other races. But all in all, we’ve still been underperforming to the level we need to and we want to be. We still need to do a better job, no matter what.

Sprint Format Pressures Ahead of Marina Bay

Finding an immediate solution in Singapore will be complicated by the weekend’s sprint format, which grants teams only a single practice session to dial in baseline setups before competitive running begins. Piastri admitted that unlocking performance from the MCL40 on limited track time poses a tough challenge.

With this year’s car it’s never come that easily for either of us, but especially for myself, so definitely going to put things to the test, the Australian acknowledged.

Why This Matters

The rapid shift in the competitive order underscores how intensely in-season aerodynamic developments dictate the championship momentum. Red Bull’s extensive Baku upgrade has revitalized Max Verstappen’s charge, pairing the RB22’s race pace with Mercedes’ sustained season-long baseline. Conversely, McLaren’s inability to extract relative lap time from its own Baku package highlights the narrow operational window of the MCL40. With technical setbacks like fuel injection faults now addressed, McLaren must demonstrate it can adapt rapidly across varied track profiles or risk falling firmly behind Ferrari into the upper midfield.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did McLaren fall back in Baku and Malaysia?

McLaren struggled with straightline speed deficits, track-specific setup compromises such as tarmac roughness at Sepang, and fuel injection issues that hampered both cars across the last two race weekends. Additionally, their Baku upgrades did not deliver relative lap time gains compared to improvements made by Red Bull.

What updates allowed Red Bull to catch Mercedes?

Red Bull introduced a major aerodynamic update package for the RB22 in Baku, featuring revised sidepods, floor, mirrors, halo, and diffuser, which carried Max Verstappen to a victory in Malaysia and restored the team’s top-tier pace.

What challenges does McLaren face in Singapore?

Singapore is run as a sprint weekend, offering only one practice session. Because the MCL40 has proven notoriously difficult to optimize quickly, finding a strong baseline setup within tight time constraints will test both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.