Oscar Piastri says Formula 1’s engine management tweaks have not fixed all the problems after George Russell’s “pretty crazy” closing speed at the Miami Grand Prix.

Qualifying, though, was a “bit” better with the harvesting limit reduced.

‘Pretty crazy’: Piastri stunned as Russell blasts past in Miami

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Three races into the F1 2026 season with its new engine formula, the FIA, FOM, the team principals and the engine manufacturers agreed to tweak the energy management rules after speaking to the drivers.

The decision came on the back of continued complaints from the drivers about battery harvesting and super clipping ruining the experience, while safety also factored after Oliver Bearman ploughed into the barriers in Japan having misjudged his closing speed on Franco Colapinto.

The FIA announced that for qualifying, the maximum permitted recharge would be reduced from 8 MJ to 7 MJ, which would lessen the need for battery harvesting.

For the grands prix, the maximum power available during boost mode was capped at 150kW, while MGU-K deployment was limited to 250kW in some parts of the lap.

Piastri said that while the changes were noticeable in qualifying, they did nothing in the grand prix.

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“I think reducing the harvest limit in qualifying has helped a bit. It’s not fixed the problem or all the problems, but it’s helping with one,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media in Miami.

“The races are basically exactly the same, and I think today was my first proper experience of overtaking people and then having to defend and stuff like that.”

The McLaren driver, who finished the grand prix in third place, was shocked by the closing speed of the current cars when Straight Line Mode and Boost Mode are activated.

That, he says, shaved a second off his advantage over George Russell in an instant with the Mercedes driver blasting past him.

“It’s pretty crazy, to be honest,” he continued.

“At one point George was one second behind me and managed to overtake me by the end of that straight.

“It’s just a bit random. The closing speeds are huge and trying to anticipate that as the defending driver is incredibly tough to do.

“Obviously for the overtaking driver, I wasn’t that pleased with one of the moves that George did, but I kind of found myself almost doing the same move about five laps later, just because the closing speed is enormous.

“So from that side of things, not much has really changed.”

Piastri reckons that without changing the engine formula, which cannot happen until 2031 although the FIA is pushing for V8s in 2030, not much will change.

“I think the collaboration again from the FIA and F1 has been good, but there are only so many things you can change with the hardware we have,” he said.

“So some changes in the future are still needed for sure. How quickly we can do it is the big question.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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