Oscar Piastri says qualifying grids decided by computers behaving or misbehaving a crap way of going racing

Much has been said over the past couple of days since the conclusion of the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix about how bad an experience it was for the drivers around Spa-Francorchamps, a track that requires grunt from a Formula 1 power unit, a trait the current units lack with drivers having to make do with Formula 2 power levels at some point when the batteries are depleted.

That is not to mention when the self-learning algorithms managing the power units start making decisions on their own contrary to what the drivers want.

Piastri, who qualified seventh for the Grand Prix, was not happy with how his power unit's computer decided the outcome of his session. He told Motorsport.com: "It sucks. I can't really say it any other way than that.

"So, you know, when you've got qualifying grids decided by computers behaving or misbehaving, it's a pretty crap way of going racing.

"Here it's obviously exaggerated a lot and made worse, but when you come in from a qualifying session, you look at all the corners and go, ‘I'm on par with my teammate, and yet I'm two tenths behind at the end of it’. It's not a very nice feeling," he explained.

The Australian is not even optimistic that changes to the power units in 2027, which will swing the power output more towards the internal combustion engine, will solve the current issue that seems to affect all drivers without exception—maybe Kimi Antonelli is immune...

"It's all to do with just how the systems manage things," Piastri said when asked about the 2027 regs. "The change in fuel flow and the less deployment are not going to fix those specific issues. It has to do with how the engine is calibrated, how the engine learns; it's kind of ingrained into these engines.

"Obviously it will get better as all the manufacturers understand the engines more. It's not just a problem for us or Mercedes; it's a problem with all the engines, speaking to some of the other drivers.

"But the fact that it's even a problem is pretty annoying for more than just myself," the McLaren driver concluded.