Franz Tost explains why Oscar Piastri is ready to challenge Max Verstappen for the 2026 F1 title

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Franz Tost believes Oscar Piastri is one of the three favourites to win the 2026 F1 title, yet 2025 champion Lando Norris is not among the drivers he expects to see challenge.

Norris overturned a 34-point deficit to his McLaren teammate Piastri last year to win the F1 drivers’ championship for the first time. Red Bull racer Max Verstappen also turned his 104-point deficit to Piastri into an 11-point lead over the Australian across the final nine rounds.

Verstappen nearly completed the greatest F1 title comeback in history, as he finished 2025 just two points short from becoming a five-time consecutive champion. And many thought the 2026 F1 regulations may prevent Verstappen from fighting for another title this season.

But the reliability of Red Bull’s first in-house F1 engine during 2026 pre-season testing blew the paddock away, and Tost now believes Verstappen will again be a title contender against Piastri and Mercedes star George Russell. He expects Ferrari will begin 2026 facing a deficit.

Franz Tost thinks Oscar Piastri’s 2025 F1 title collapse will help him to challenge for the 2026 championship

Tost feels Piastri is the more likely McLaren man to make the most of the new regulations to rival Russell and Verstappen for the 2026 F1 title as he will have learnt from how his title bid fell apart in 2025. Piastri was the champion-elect after 15 rounds, but did not see it through.

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

The wheels started to fall off his wagon after McLaren told Piastri to give back P2 to Norris in the 2025 Italian Grand Prix, having undercut the Briton who the team had told would stay in front if he agreed to pit second. Piastri later admitted that Monza was still on his mind when he crashed during qualifying and the Azerbaijan GP, as well as jumping the start of the race.

“Verstappen, Russell and Piastri, who had a fantastic season for a long time last year and is now only in his fourth year in Formula 1,” Tost told Krone about his 2026 F1 title favourites.

Tost is not alone in backing Piastri to enjoy a stronger season than Norris in 2026, with David Coulthard also believing the Australian will have learnt from his wobble last term to now put a full year together. Piastri only outscored Norris across two of the final nine rounds in 2025.

Franz Tost fears Ferrari’s small turbo in their 2026 regulations engine will be a ‘disadvantage’

The F1 paddock thinks Mercedes are the team to beat in 2026 after testing. Do you agree?

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Tost does not feel Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will fight for the 2026 F1 drivers’ title, as the long-time Toro Rosso team principal fears Ferrari’s small turbo could leave them with a “disadvantage” in some areas despite the expected gains the Scuderia will get off the line.

Hamilton displayed Ferrari’s rapid starts during the 2026 Bahrain test, as the Scuderia do not have the same issues with turbo lag that their rival teams do due to F1 removing the MGU-H from the power unit formulae. Some F1 teams have to spool their turbos on the grid for 10s.

But some F1 engineers feel Ferrari’s small turbo may be a problem at power-sensitive tracks, which should not affect Mercedes as they have a larger turbo. And Tost thinks Ferrari will go into the 2026 F1 season as the fourth-best team, due largely to the trade-off with the turbo.

Tost added about his early-season pecking order: “Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari. They [Ferrari] had super starts, they probably use a smaller turbo, but they will likely have a slight disadvantage elsewhere.”