Oscar Piastri gives 2027 engine changes verdict in ‘changing hardware’ warning

Oscar Piastri said an agreement in principle for power unit changes in 2027 was a “step in the right direction” but warned real change will only come with different hardware.

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, the FIA announced that an agreement had been reached between relevant parties over a change to the power unit but it has yet to be officially voted through.

Oscar Piastri gives verdict on F1 2027 potential changes

The notion suggested changing the ICE/electrical power ratio away from 50:50 and to 60:40 in favour of the internal combustion with the hope that drivers could push flat out in qualifying once again.

The plans have largely been well received, although still require an official vote before being confirmed, and Piastri said it was a “step in the right direction” if not an outright fix.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not the fix,” he said.

“I think even with the previous engines we had, which were 80:20 or 85:15 split, even at some circuits we didn’t have full deployment everywhere.

“We were very close, and a lot of the circuits we did, but until you find a split where you can maintain that full electrical power everywhere, it’s always going to be a little bit odd for us as drivers on the straights.”

Piastri warned though that even a swap to 60:40 is not going to entirely fix the issues and said that only comes from “changing hardware.”

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“No matter what the split is, you’re going to have these troubles with opening a qualifying lap, getting the battery in the right level,” he said. “[There is] such a fine line and difficult balancing act of having the battery in the right state, because either you start the lap with not a full battery or you start with no boost pressure in the turbo, and there’s not an easy fix.

“There’s not really a solution to that, apart from changing hardware. So that’s really the only full fix, but it is a step in the right direction if we do that.”

In the meantime, Piastri is looking to end a 14-race wait for a win with his last victory coming at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.

When asked if it was tough to be patient in such a drought, Piastri said the fact McLaren was still at the top end of the grid made it easier.

“Not always. I mean, we’re close,” he said. “I think the last couple of races with different circumstances or different decisions, we could have had two race wins as a team, so you know, we know we didn’t start here in the best place, but we’ve found our feet pretty quickly.

“It’s not that hard, because we know we’re close, and at the moment we know that if we are perfect, which we’ve come close to recently but not quite nailed, we know if we’re perfect, we can still win, and that’s that’s what you’re always chasing.”

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