Oscar Piastri fires huge warning to rivals over ‘very big topic’ clouding start to new F1 season

Oscar Piastri has warned that his rivals could potentially lose six or seven places at the start of races if procedures remain the same under new regulations.

As Formula 1 testing is happening in Bahrain, race starts have become a major concern.

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As the season opener gets closer, there’s worry that cars could struggle off the line.

With the new regulation change, the perfect launch now involves a tick list of instructions, with the turbo engine needing to store energy for around ten seconds whilst also not over-charging the battery.

Australian driver Piastri believes with some new cars varying wildly, starts could be even more interesting than ever before.

He told the media: “Everyone’s going to need different things for the start, and to be completely honest with you, I’m not sure any of us know exactly what we need yet.

“The difference between a good and bad race start last year was you got a bit of wheel spin or you had a bad reaction time.

“This year, it could effectively be like an F2 race where you go into anti-stall. You could be losing six or seven spots if it goes wrong.

“Starts need to be addressed because as we’ve all seen, it’s a pretty complicated process to have a safe start, let alone a competitive one.

“I’m sure it’s something we will talk about between now and Melbourne. Overtaking is certainly going to be different as well.”

His teammate and current world champion Lando Norris agrees.

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He added: “It’s more tricky the starts because of the lack of battery you have over a lap.

“It’s certainly a bigger challenge, more demanding on the driver to get things right.”

An F1 Commission met on Wednesday with teams discussing the issues of the new car.

Previously, there was no restriction on how quickly the lights could go on but the 2026 rules now clarify ‘the time interval between the illumination of each of the five red lights in the sequence described above shall be one second.’

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In addition, some drivers such as Lewis Hamilton have stated the starting procedure is not as dangerous as before.

The Brit said: “It’s definitely not dangerous. I think we should probably take that connotation away from it, because it’s just a different procedure.

“It’s just a longer procedure than it has been in the past. If right now you put the five lights up, we would all still be standing there when the lights went out for a little bit longer. But you can still pull away without the turbo going. It’s just that you probably will anti-stall a couple of times. So perhaps the anti-stall is something that maybe is a potential for some people. But I don’t think that it’s dangerous.”

Hamilton’s ex-teammate and new Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas said: “Honestly, I don’t think it’s more dangerous than before.

“The main difference is with holding revs [for longer]. And I think we’ve got to figure out something for that, because my only concern with that is like when you’re at the back of the grid, the light will already start going and you won’t have enough time to get the turbo spinning before the lights go off.

“That’s obviously only an issue for the drivers in the back. But apart from that, I think we’ll find solutions, and I don’t see any element of danger in just having to hold revs for longer.”

The FIA will still test a new start procedure at testing this week.

They confirmed: “As part of the end-of-day procedures during the second week of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the FIA will evaluate a new race start lights sequence.

“At approximately 18:50, a red flag will be shown, and all cars will return to the pit lane. The cars will then complete a formation lap, followed by an additional formation lap, before lining up on the grid for a simulated race start.

“Once all cars are in position, a new pre-start warning will begin: all grid panels will flash blue for five seconds. After the blue warning ends, the usual start sequence will begin.

“In total, the sequence will consist of: red flag; cars back in the pit lane and line up in the fast lane; pit exit open – cars leave the pit lane to go back on the grid; extra formation lap; cars back in position on the grid; five-second blue pre-start warning; standard start light procedure.”

And it all seemed to run smoothly with this attempt on Wednesday, bar some wheelspin, as 11 drivers gave it their best shot.