Brundle Predicts Vengeful Piastri Return in 2026

Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle believes Oscar Piastri will return with a vengeance in 2026 after the pain of narrowly missing out on his first world championship last season. Piastri led the standings late in 2025 but a late-season slump saw him finish third, a lesson Brundle thinks will fuel a major step forward.

Why it matters:

Piastri's response to last year's heartbreak will be a key narrative for 2026. After establishing himself as a top-tier winner with McLaren, his ability to learn from defeat and address specific weaknesses will determine if he can convert raw speed into a sustained title challenge against teammate Lando Norris and the rest of the field.

The details:

• The 2025 Collapse: Piastri held a 34-point lead over Norris with nine rounds remaining in 2025, riding a streak of 14 podiums in 15 races. However, a subsequent six-race podium drought allowed Norris to seize control and win the title, leaving Piastri third in the final standings.
• Brundle's Analysis: The analyst called Piastri's season "partly painful, partly brilliant" and a significant learning experience. He pinpointed a known weakness: extracting performance on low-grip circuits. "He knows he's got to fix that," Brundle said, while also praising the Australian's "dominant" and "impressive" race wins.
• The Driver's Mentality: Brundle emphasized Piastri's intelligence, competitiveness, and work ethic, concluding, "I think he'll come back having made a big step forward."
• The 2026 Reset: The new technical regulations for 2026 could shuffle the competitive order, though McLaren is still expected to be at the front. Mercedes is currently the bookmakers' favorite heading into the new era.

What's next:

All eyes will be on Piastri's form during pre-season testing and the opening rounds.

• The grid's true pecking order will start to crystallize after the official pre-season tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20.
• Piastri's season begins at his home race, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, from March 6-8, where he will look to immediately demonstrate the progress Brundle anticipates.