F1 fans think Ferrari are the 2026 favourites after hearing Oscar Piastri’s latest comments

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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has added his voice to the critique of Formula 1’s new regulations.

At this point in previous seasons, fans were discussing who would come out on top in the drivers’ championship, and after three days of testing in Bahrain, a pecking order is beginning to emerge.

However, a far more pressing concern for many fans is the behaviour of the cars on track, and McLaren star Oscar Piastri has delivered his early verdict on the 2026 cars.

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Piastri admitted he’s ‘not surprised’ cars are struggling in traffic, despite this year’s ruleset being specifically designed to avoid that issue occurring.

On top of this, drivers are finding that they’re decelerating down long straights due to constraints with the new hybrid power units, and the race starts themselves are a cause for concern due to the immense turbo lag.

The Australian driver has shared his thoughts on the upcoming season, and many fans now believe that Ferrari might have a crucial advantage over the rest of the grid based on what Piastri said.

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Oscar Piastri says ‘complex’ 2026 F1 regulations are ‘not very instinctive’ for drivers

Piastri was speaking to the assembled media after three days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

He pointed out that drivers are now being forced to lift and coast, something Ferrari became experts in last season.

The 24-year-old explained: “The cars are certainly different, that’s for sure. I think the low-speed corners probably feel the same, or maybe a little bit nicer because it’s a little bit lighter, but yeah, obviously the high-speed performance in terms of downforce is significantly less than last year.

“And we’ve been learning a lot about how to get the most out of the power unit this week, which, yeah, is unconventional, definitely. But, new challenges.

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“And there are plenty of topics to address. Starts, overtaking. Overtaking is certainly going to be different as well.

“I think following is very similar to last year, in all honesty, which is not a big surprise to me, but there’s definitely a lot of things to talk about and address before Melbourne.

“I think it’s just complex. There’s a lot of things that we’ve never had to do before, and they are just challenging by nature, because some of them are not very instinctive.

“And when you’ve kind of driven a certain way for the last 15 years, it’s pretty tough to undo some of those things, especially when some of them are lifting on straights or stuff like that.

“Obviously, as a driver, you never want to be lifting at any point.

“But yeah, I think, even without some of the challenges that we’ve got and the things we need to address as a sport, ultimately, they are cars that are slower, and then have less downforce and probably more power out of the corners, so they’re always going to feel difficult to drive and tricky.”

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F1 fans think Oscar Piastri’s comments mean Ferrari will have an advantage in 2026

Reacting to Piastri’s comments on Reddit, fans pointed out that Ferrari have been lifting and coasting, also known as LiCo, throughout 2025.

‘So Ferrari is ready then…’ said one fan, while another comment read, ‘Everyone thought the “sacrificing this season to learn for the new regs” was about suspension, but turns out it was LiCo instead. 200IQ move.’

‘Oh, that’s why Ferrari was making its driver use LiCo last year. Ferrari WDC and WCC confirmed,’ argued another commenter.

One reaction to Piastri’s comments suggested: ‘Even the drivers didn’t know what Ferrari was cooking.’

‘All I am hearing is LiCo, and Ferrari is the master of it,’ said another fan, and one comment read, ‘The joke’s on the rest of them, Ferrari drivers are already adapted to lifting and coasting on the straights…’

Meanwhile, certain circuits look more susceptible to these issues than others, with one fan admitting: ‘I’m absolutely dreading Monza, Baku, Vegas, China, any other tracks with really long straights.’