Alain Prost tells Oscar Piastri what he ‘needs’ to do at McLaren in 2026 after losing the F1 title

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Oscar Piastri was the champion-elect for most of the 2025 F1 season but fell short of McLaren teammate Lando Norris for the title, and he even finished the term in third.

Despite Piastri leading the F1 drivers’ standings for more of the 2025 campaign than anyone, he finished the year 13 points behind Norris and 11 behind Red Bull ace Max Verstappen. He also only outscored Norris over two of the final nine rounds, which were also at the last two.

Piastri saw his lead atop the standings crumble on the back of opening his biggest margin all year after 15 of the 24 rounds. The 24-year-old led Norris by 34 points and Verstappen by 104 following the Dutch Grand Prix, but he did not outscore the Red Bull racer again all year.

A run of woe ruined Piastri’s campaign, with the Australian following his error-strewn trip to Baku with sub-par showings on the low-grip tracks in Austin, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Las Vegas. Piastri only responded to Norris’ rise to the title once F1 went to the high-grip Lusail.

Alain Prost feels Oscar Piastri still ‘needs to establish himself’ at McLaren

Alain Prost is also now “curious” to see how Piastri reacts next season to Norris winning the 2025 title, as he still needs to “establish himself” at McLaren. Piastri joined McLaren for his F1 debut in 2023, but Prost cannot overlook that Norris is an English driver in a British team.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the 2026 F1 engine and aero regulations

Finish the sentence: In his Formula 1 career, Oscar PIastri will win ____ titles

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Prost, who won the F1 title with McLaren in 1985, ‘86 and ‘89, also feels the introduction of the 2026 F1 regulations could shake up the order and affect how Piastri responds. Next year will see the biggest overhaul of the regulations yet, with new engine and aerodynamic rules.

“I’m curious to see how Piastri does,” Prost claimed, via SPEEDWEEK. “He’s the challenger at McLaren who needs to establish himself.

“He almost succeeded in doing that in 2025. We also must not forget that Lando is English. The new regulations will rearrange everything a bit.”

McLaren faced accusations of favouritism amid Oscar Piastri’s 2025 F1 title demise

Prost is not the first person to highlight that Norris is a British driver in a British team, given that McLaren faced lots of accusations of favouritism in the 2025 F1 season. A few incidents amid Piastri’s demise and Norris’ rise led some to believe McLaren wanted the latter to win.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

For many, Monza marked the start of the Melbourne native’s malaise in round 16. McLaren told Piastri to give Norris back P2 in the Italian GP, having undercut his teammate who they had assured would remain ahead if he let the former pit first and cover off Charles Leclerc.

McLaren then initially refused to act when Norris frustrated Piastri by making contact in the Singapore GP, having barged his way past for P3 at the start of the race. The team later gave Norris sporting repercussions for the incident that let Piastri decide when he ran during Q3.

But McLaren removed Norris’ repercussions after Piastri caused a crash in the COTA Sprint, with the team blaming the Australian for an incident that took both of the papaya pals out at the start. Piastri tried an aggressive cutback that saw him chop across Nico Hulkenberg.