Piastri jokes 2026 F1 cars will need more laps to learn Sepang than he does

Oscar Piastri suggested, with a straight face, that Formula 1’s 2026 cars might need more laps to learn a new circuit than he does — a remark that landed at Thursday’s Bahrain Grand Prix media day and quickly spread across fan forums.

The McLaren driver was discussing preparation for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, a circuit returning to the calendar in 2026 after nearly a decade away. More than half the current grid has never raced there, and Piastri is among them. Like team-mate Lando Norris, he has leaned on simulator work to build familiarity before the first practice session.

“In terms of sim work, it’s kind of the normal amount,” Piastri said. “I think for me, the sims help you identify your braking points, which gears you use roughly, how fast you can go, but when you really start getting into the finer details, especially with this year’s cars and power units, it becomes very challenging. So it’s not really a case of if you do double the amount of work on the sim and you get double the reward. There’s definitely a point where it stops becoming useful.”

The Australian then referenced a well-worn piece of F1 press-conference folklore when asked how many laps it takes to feel at home on an unfamiliar track. At the 2016 European Grand Prix, Nico Hülkenberg estimated ten laps, only for Fernando Alonso to counter with two, and Sebastian Vettel to trump them both with one and a half.

Some fans also connected Piastri’s comments to a separate 2014 Abu Dhabi press conference in which journalist Walter Koster posed a lengthy question to Vettel and Nico Rosberg based on a Niki Lauda remark that a monkey could drive a modern F1 car. Vettel, after asking Koster to repeat the question, replied: “I think it depends all on how the monkey grows up these days.”

Piastri’s own punchline landed in the same tradition. “I think these cars need about ten laps to learn where they’re going,” he said. “So it will probably be the power unit that’s trying to learn things after I am.”

The comment drew laughter in the room but also genuine discussion online, with many fans reading it as a subtle dig at the complexity of the 2026 technical regulations — which introduce significantly revised power unit architecture alongside sweeping aerodynamic changes. Piastri did not elaborate further on his feelings about the new rules, but the remark was enough to keep the conversation going well beyond the press conference.