F1 2026 pecking order warning issued before season opener

The pecking order at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix will not necessarily reflect how the forthcoming season will go, according to Oscar Piastri.

Intrigue surrounds who will be the team to beat at the start of F1’s new rules era, with Mercedes the bookies’ favourites for the world championship.

Teams played the ultimate game of pass the parcel during pre-season testing in Bahrain when it came to who they felt is heading into the new campaign in the strongest position.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella claimed that Mercedes and Ferrari are both a “step ahead” of the reigning world champions and Red Bull.

But Piastri has warned that whoever is quickest in Melbourne won’t determine the entire 2026 season, with an intense development battle expected.

"I think we're in the mix at the moment,” Piastri, who finished third last season behind world champion Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, told Sky Sports F1.

"We'll find out for sure soon enough, but I don't think we're quite in the position we were 12 months ago where we felt like we were the strongest.

"I think this season is not going to be won by who's quickest, or who's the best, at the first race.

"There's going to be a lot of development, a lot of learning, especially for us as drivers, and whoever can get on top of that the quickest in what is a very long season is going to end up on top in the long run.”

McLaren has what it takes to catch up

Piastri says McLaren has proved in the past that it is capable of catching back up if it has taken a wrong development path.

"I think every time there's a regulation reset there are a few different pathways you can go down and I think we've probably seen a few teams go down different pathways," the Australian added.

"So it's going to be interesting to see which one ends up being the best. If there's one thing I do know, it's just how competent our team is and especially our engineering team.

"We've shown over the last two or three years just how quickly we can get things back on track and how quickly we can turn things around. So I think, no matter what rules we get thrown at us, I think we'll get there.”

Piastri heads into his home race looking to put behind him the disappointment of 12 months ago, when he blew his chances of a win by spinning off in wet conditions, before fighting back to finish ninth.

The 24-year-old is expecting the unique nature of the Albert Park track to throw up a different challenge for the teams compared to more traditional circuits.

"I think Melbourne's going to be a pretty unique challenge,” he said.

"Different circuits are going to be more challenging with these cars, especially in terms of how you kind of manage the power unit and the battery charge and stuff like that.

"So we'll see what Melbourne's like, but definitely going to be complicated one way or another."