Christian Horner has weighed in on Oscar Piastri’s 2026 title hopes after a 2025 season that slipped away in the second half of the year.
Piastri was 34 points clear after his win at Zandvoort, round 15 of a 24-race campaign. Horner had already named him the “odds-on favourite” as early as the summer break.
But he failed to win again over the final eight rounds, missing out on podium finishes entirely in five of those races.
That opened the door for teammate Lando Norris to fight back and take the title. Norris peaked at the perfect time, and Max Verstappen’s charge ultimately demoted Piastri to third.
Horner says people ‘forget’ Piastri is still inexperienced
Horner was still in charge at Red Bull until July, so he knows McLaren and Piastri well. Speaking to Australia’s 9 News, he weighed in on the 2026 season and what Piastri might be able to accomplish after the way things ended in 2025.
He thinks missing out by just 13 points will make Piastri a tougher challenge for Norris this time around. If inexperience played a part last year, now heading into his fourth season, that should be less of an issue.
Among the top 11 drivers in the standings last year, only Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli had fewer starts than Piastri. The rest were all well ahead on experience.
“Oscar will have learned a huge amount from last year,” Horner told Channel Nine. “I thought he was odds-on favourite going into the summer break and unfortunately it sort of fell apart for him at the end of the season there.”
“He’ll have learned from that and that will have hurt him and ultimately motivated him,” Horner added. “You forget that the guy has only done a couple of seasons in Formula One. He’s so relatively inexperienced that he’s just going to get better and better.”
Christian Horner admits Red Bull missed a chance to sign Oscar Piastri
Horner spoke of his interest in Piastri during the latest season of Drive to Survive. He’s made no secret of how much he rates the 24-year-old.
He also acknowledged missing out on Piastri years ago, well before the public battle between McLaren and Alpine over his signature.
Martin Brundle expects Piastri to bounce back strongly in 2026, but points out that he needs to address his struggles on low-grip circuits if he wants to be a genuine title contender. Those types of tracks were where he faltered most last season.
McLaren have claimed the past two constructors’ championships, but their dominance is expected to face a serious challenge this year, especially from engine supplier Mercedes.
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