McLaren's Oscar Piastri believes the pecking order at this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix will not absolutely determine who is ultimately successful in the first season of F1's new rules era.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella has already said that Mercedes, the bookmakers' world championship favourites, and Ferrari are a "step ahead" of his team and Red Bull after pre-season testing in Bahrain.
McLaren are the defending two-time constructors' champions, while Piastri's team-mate Lando Norris is the reigning drivers' champion and won last year's season opener in Melbourne.
Speaking to Your Site F1 on the eve of his home race at Albert Park, Australia's Piastri said: "I think we're in the mix at the moment.
"We'll find out for sure soon enough, but I don't think we're quite in the position we were 12 months ago where we felt like we were the strongest.
"I think this season is not going to be won by who's quickest, or who's the best, at the first race.
"There's going to be a lot of development, a lot of learning, especially for us as drivers, and whoever can get on top of that the quickest in what is a very long season is going to end up on top in the long run."
And even if McLaren do start behind their rivals this weekend, Piastri has backed them to quickly catch back up.
"I think every time there's a regulation reset there are a few different pathways you can go down and I think we've probably seen a few teams go down different pathways," said Piastri.
"So it's going to be interesting to see which one ends up being the best. If there's one thing I do know, it's just how competent our team is and especially our engineering team.
"We've shown over the last two or three years just how quickly we can get things back on track and how quickly we can turn things around.
"So I think, no matter what rules we get thrown at us, I think we'll get there."
The Australian weekend will be the competitive debut for the sport's all-new 2026 cars and engines, which feature a near 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power.
A three-fold increase in electrical energy over 2025 places different demands on how drivers need to harvest and deploy this during a lap, requirements which are expected to be different from track to track during the season.
Albert Park features fewer heavy braking zones than Bahrain, for instance, and Piastri admitted: "I think Melbourne's going to be a pretty unique challenge.
"Different circuits are going to be more challenging with these cars, especially in terms of how you kind of manage the power unit and the battery charge and stuff like that.
"So we'll see what Melbourne's like, but definitely going to be complicated one way or another."
Thursday March 5
3am: Drivers' Press Conference
6am: Paddock Uncut
9.45pm: F3 Practice
10.55pm: F2 Practice
Friday March 6
1am: Australian GP Practice One (session starts at 1.30am)*
2.55am: F3 Qualifying*
3.30am: Team Bosses Press Conference
3.50am: F2 Qualifying*
4.35am: Australian GP Practice Two (session starts at 5am)*
6.15am: The F1 Show*
Saturday March 7
0.10am: F3 Sprint*
1.10am: Australian GP Practice Three (session starts at 1.30am)*
3.05am: F2 Sprint*
4.10am: Australian GP Qualifying build-up*
5am: AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*
7am: Ted's Qualifying Notebook*
9.45pm: F3 Feature Race*
Sunday March 8
12.20am: F2 Feature Race*
2.30am: Australian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
4am: THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX*
6am: Australian GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
7am: Ted's Notebook*
7.55am: Australian GP race replay*
10am: Australian GP highlights (also on Sky One)*
*Also on Your Site Main Event
Watch every race of the 2026 Formula 1 season live on Your Site, starting with the Australian Grand Prix from March 6-8.
