Oscar Piastri (McLaren) warns ahead of the British Grand Prix: “Utter chaos”

The historic Silverstone circuit and the 2026 generation of racing cars are like oil and water. At the first of all Formula 1 World Championship circuits, energy management is even more difficult than usual.

At the Red Bull Ring at the end of June, hard braking manoeuvres on the straights were followed by relatively slow corners. Thanks to these braking zones, the drivers found it easy to charge their race cars’ batteries sufficiently.

The Silverstone Circuit is a completely different story: here, straights are often followed by fast corners, and drivers find it very difficult to recover enough energy to last a full lap. Many of them run out of electric power by the end of a lap.

We got a taste of what’s to come at the British Grand Prix during the Silverstone Sprint, and nine-time GP winner Oscar Piastri isn’t happy with what he saw there.

The 25-year-old Australian said after the sprint: “Lap 1 was pure chaos in terms of energy management. It was quite dangerous in some places, to be honest, but that’s just the way it is with these racing cars.”

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“I found it difficult to keep my car under control whilst chasing the opposition. There are a few things we need to take a closer look at, but at least we’ve seen what to expect in the Grand Prix – namely, utter chaos.”

We’ll be providing live updates from the British Grand Prix from 3.00 pm here at SPEEDWEEK.com; the race starts at 4.00 pm Central European Summer Time.