Franz Tost has named Oscar Piastri as one of his three favourites for the 2026 F1 title, but surprisingly, reigning champion Lando Norris isn’t on that list.
Norris came back from 34 points behind to beat McLaren teammate Piastri in the race for the championship. Max Verstappen also erased a huge gap to take an 11-point lead over Piastri in the final rounds.
Verstappen nearly pulled off the biggest comeback in F1 history, finishing just two points short of a fifth straight title. Some doubted whether the new 2026 regulations would allow him to challenge again this year.
The reliability of Red Bull’s first in-house engine during pre-season testing has caught everyone’s attention. Tost now expects Verstappen to be in the mix alongside Piastri and Mercedes driver George Russell, while he thinks Ferrari may start the season on the back foot.
Franz Tost backs Piastri’s 2026 title hopes
Tost sees Piastri as the more likely of the two McLaren drivers to adapt well to the new regulations and put together a title challenge against Russell and Verstappen in 2026, learning from how his previous campaign fell apart. He had been leading comfortably after 15 rounds but couldn’t see it through.
The turning point came at Monza when team orders required Piastri to hand back second place to Norris, following a pit strategy decision that favoured the Briton. The incident stayed with him throughout the year, even admitting later that he was still dwelling on it during his mistakes at Azerbaijan.
“Verstappen, Russell and Piastri, who had a fantastic season for a long time last year and is now only in his fourth year in Formula 1,” Tost told Krone about his 2026 F1 title favourites.
Tost isn’t alone in that view. David Coulthard has also said he expects Piastri to come back stronger this year after struggling to hold form late in 2025 when Norris pulled clear over the final stretch of races.
Ferrari’s 2026 engine plan could put them behind the pace, says Tost
Tost doesn’t see Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc contending for the 2026 drivers’ championship, expressing concern that Ferrari’s choice of a smaller turbo might end up being more of a hindrance than an advantage.
Hamilton highlighted Ferrari’s quick starts during testing in Bahrain, thanks to their engine configuration avoiding the turbo lag affecting others since F1 dropped the MGU-H from power units. Some teams are now spooling turbos for 10 seconds before lights out.
Still, there are doubts about whether that quick start will be enough over a full race distance. Some engineers believe Ferrari’s small turbo could struggle at circuits where outright power is critical—a concern Mercedes won’t share, given their larger setup. It’s one reason Tost predicts Ferrari will start the season as the fourth-best team on the grid.
Tost explained his early ranking by saying: “Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari. They [Ferrari] had super starts, they probably use a smaller turbo, but they will likely have a slight disadvantage elsewhere.”
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