{"id":857665,"date":"2026-08-16T20:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T20:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857665\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T20:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T20:34:08","slug":"oscar-piastri-urged-to-explore-rabbit-holes-with-mclaren-setup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857665\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri urged to explore \u2018rabbit holes\u2019 with McLaren setup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri<\/a> has been urged to experiment with his MCL40, with Juan Pablo Montoya telling him to \u201csacrifice\u201d a weekend or three rather than put in 12 \u201caverage\u201d races.<\/p>\n

Piastri was on the back foot from the word go this season as he suffered back-to-back DNS in Australia, where he crashed on the formation lap, and China, where an electrical problem forced him off the grid.<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri urged to experiment with McLaren MCL40 setup<\/p>\n

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It was a torrid start to the campaign for a driver who is determined to prove he is not McLaren\u2019s number two after losing the championship to Lando Norris last season.<\/p>\n

Although the Australian racer bounced back with podium finishes in Japan and Miami, he has not stood on the podium in the seven races since.<\/p>\n

He was close in Hungary, where he led the Grand Prix before contact with Carlos Sainz as he tried to overtake the backmarker gave Norris the tenths that he needed to snatch the lead. The contact had the seemingly unflappable Piastri enraged.<\/p>\n

Piastri went on to retire with a gearbox failure, while Norris claimed the victory. The gap between the teammates increased to 36 points in Norris\u2019 favour.<\/p>\n

Montoya has advised the 25-year-old to experiment with the set-up of his McLaren MCL40 to find what works for him, even if it means a few poor weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to understand why Lando\u2019s more comfortable than him, what\u2019s missing and what they need to do,\u201d Montoya told news.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is working for Lando isn\u2019t necessarily going to work for Oscar and what Oscar wants out of the car is completely different.<\/p>\n

\u201cOscar should go to McLaren and say, \u2018Hey, let me experiment, even if we get it completely wrong. Let me go down a couple of rabbit holes\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to get out of the bubble they\u2019re operating in because it\u2019s working for Lando but not working for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to expand and maybe go a couple of weekends where they struggle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho cares? You\u2019ve still got 12 races left, sacrifice two or three for the other nine, instead of having another 12 average races.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re leaving it weekend to weekend, it\u2019s so difficult to go \u2018we\u2019re just going to suck this weekend\u2019. You need to figure out what\u2019s missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cOscar has a lot of really good people around him. They need to not be afraid of swinging to the fences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri: McLaren F1 2026 scores<\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

The seven-time Grand Prix winner believes Piastri is still struggling with the \u201churt\u201d of losing last year\u2019s championship.<\/p>\n

He was leading the championship by 34 points ahead of Norris and 104 up on Max Verstappen after the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Nine races later, when the final chequered flag fell in Abu Dhabi, he was third in the standings, where he was 13 points behind Norris and 11 down on Verstappen.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing the championship last year really hurt him mentally,\u201d Montoya explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a process of getting over it, figuring it out and getting the focus and the energy back on getting the job done. He is bloody good, so I think he will.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a big thing on the head, the psychology part of it. Losing the championship last year, everyone was talking like it was his, it was in the bag.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in that position where you look unbeatable and you lose the championship, it\u2019s a hard pill to swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colombian cautioned Piastri that he may have to accept that he\u2019ll never be crowned F1 world champion. Instead, he says the Aussie needs to focus on doing the right things on the track race by race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might get another but opportunities like that don\u2019t come that often,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the reality of the sport. He\u2019s done amazing things. Unless your only motivation is to be world champion, the reality of this sport is to be world champion everything has to go your way. You need to be in the best car.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to focus on the day-to-day, winning races, focus on practice and maximising everything, then the opportunity might come by itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t determine the rest of your career because you finished second or third in the world championship. It sucks that your teammate won but that\u2019s why we go racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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