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Motorsport

Ronald Vording

"It sucks" – Oscar Piastri feels F1 grids are decided by "computers behaving or misbehaving"

Piastri F1 Andrea Stella McLaren Spa (Facility) George Russell Motorsportcom

From the very beginning, it was clear that the Formula 1 weekend at Spa-Francorchamps would present a major challenge in terms of energy management. The "energy-starved" circuit in the Ardennes features long straights and fast corners, with few opportunities to harvest energy.

As a result, drivers had to rely solely on the internal combustion engine through the second sector (around 540 horsepower), which is less than the Mecachrome engines in Formula 2 produce (around 620 horsepower).

Aside from that, another aspect generated considerable frustration among the drivers over the weekend. On Saturday evening, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained that the 2026 power units feature some self-learning elements, allowing them to learn from lap to lap and even throughout a lap in order to anticipate energy management requirements.

According to Stella, however, the system is extremely sensitive. Very small variations in driver input can make a huge difference later in the lap, but the same applies to factors that the drivers cannot control, such as changes in grip levels and wind direction.

As a result, Piastri lost significant time to Norris during qualifying despite both power units running identical settings. Stella also suggested that George Russell had experienced the same issue, as the Briton was unable to explain the amount of time he had lost on the straights to Kimi Antonelli.

"Way too many things are out of our control"

Understandably, the situation left Piastri frustrated. Asked by Motorsport.com how frustrating it is for a driver to effectively be caught out by his own power unit, the Australian replied:

"It sucks. I can't really say it any other way than that..."

Besides the energy management issues at Spa, Piastri stresses that F1 drivers have too little control over the power unit in 2026 (Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images)

Piastri may have been the victim on this occasion, but he knows his case is far from unique. The McLaren driver feels that, on more than one occasion this season, the qualifying order has been determined by factors that are not within the drivers' control.

"I certainly wouldn't have been the only person," he added. "I know George has had a lot issues with that this weekend, and maybe the last couple of weekends. And speaking to some others, it's a similar story.

"So, you know, when you've got qualifying grids decided by computers behaving or misbehaving, it's a pretty crap way of going racing.

"Here it's obviously exaggerated a lot and made worse, but yeah, when you come in from a qualifying session, you look at all the corners and go, ‘I'm on par with my team-mate and yet I'm two tenths behind at the end of it’. It's not a very nice feeling."

Norris shared the same opinion. According to him, drivers have too little control over the outcome of qualifying sessions in 2026, especially at circuits such as Spa where energy management is even more important than usual.

"It's got nothing to do with you as a driver, really. Sometimes it does and we're talking about being a few metres early on the button or whatever.

"It just makes a big difference at times, but there are certain things within your control and a lot of things, way too many things, that are out of your control,” said the reigning world champion when asked by Motorsport.com.

"It's a shame that there's so many things that can dictate your own pace in qualifying. It's not down to the driver. It's just down to hoping you get lucky that the power unit does what it should do and doesn't do something silly."

Norris was on the right side of things at Spa, but says he’s struggled with PU issues every other race weekend this year (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images)

Norris came out on the right side of the issue at Spa-Francorchamps, but explained that he has experienced similar problems throughout the season.

"Honestly, it's been costing me the whole year," he said. "This is the first weekend, I think, all season that I've been competitive on the straights. It's the first time I'm probably happy.

"I've had the problem this whole season and this is the first race I've been the one that's like, ‘oh, I'm happy in the straights for once’. It was the first time Oscar was the one a little bit on the back foot in qualifying, but it's also not up to him. It's just down to the power units doing whatever they want."

No short-term solution to the problem?

The bad news is that there appears to be no quick fix, at least not at circuits such as Silverstone and Spa.

Although the balance between the internal combustion engine and electrical power will shift to 60-40 in two stages, Piastri does not believe that will solve these specific issues.

"It's all to do with just how the systems manage things. The change in fuel flow and the less deployment are not going to fix those specific issues. It has to do with how the engine is calibrated, how the engine learns, it's kind of ingrained into these engines.

"Obviously it will get better as all the manufacturers understand the engines more. It's not just a problem for us or Mercedes, it's a problem with all the engines, speaking to some of the other drivers. But the fact that it's even a problem is pretty annoying for more than just myself."