A method for producing a piston (10, 110, 210) for an internal combustion engine composed of a first piston component (11, 111, 211) and a second piston component (12, 112, 212), characterized by the following method steps; (a) providing a blank of the first piston component (11, 111, 211) made of a tempering steel or a precipitation-hardening steel, having at least one joining surface (29, 31); (b) providing a blank of the second piston component (12, 112, 212) made of a tempering steel or a precipitation-hardening steel, having at least one joining surface (32, 33); (c) quenching and tempering, or precipitation-hardening, the blanks (211', 212'); (d) connecting the blank of the first piston component (11, 111, 211) to the blank of the second piston component (12, 112, 212) via the joining surfaces (29, 31, 32, 33) thereof by way of friction welding to form a piston blank, forming at least one friction welding seam (25, 26, 125, 226) and a heat affected zone (30, 30') in the region of the at least one friction welding seam (25, 26, 125, 226), wherein at least one blank (211', 212') is provided with at least one annular groove (34, 36, 37), and at least one pair of corresponding joining surfaces (29, 32) of the blanks (211', 212') is positioned in such a way that, after the blanks have been connected, the distance between a lower groove flank of an annular groove and the center of the outer friction welding seam (25, 125) is smaller than the axial height of the heat affected zone of the friction welding seam; (e) tempering or stress relief annealing the piston blank, preserving the heat affected zone(s) (30, 30'); (f) post-treating and/or finishing the piston blank to obtain a piston (10, 110, 210). (a) providing a blank of the first piston component (11, 111, 211) made of a tempering steel or a precipitation-hardening steel, having at least one joining surface (29, 31); (b) providing a blank of the second piston component (12, 112, 212) made of a tempering steel or a precipitation-hardening steel, having at least one joining surface (32, 33); (c) quenching and tempering, or precipitation-hardening, the blanks (211', 212'); (d) connecting the blank of the first piston component (11, 111, 211) to the blank of the second piston component (12, 112, 212) via the joining surfaces (29, 31, 32, 33) thereof by way of friction welding to form a piston blank, forming at least one friction welding seam (25, 26, 125, 226) and a heat affected zone (30, 30') in the region of the at least one friction welding seam (25, 26, 125, 226), wherein at least one blank (211', 212') is provided with at least one annular groove (34, 36, 37), and at least one pair of corresponding joining surfaces (29, 32) of the blanks (211', 212') is positioned in such a way that, after the blanks have been connected, the distance between a lower groove flank of an annular groove and the center of the outer friction welding seam (25, 125) is smaller than the axial height of the heat affected zone of the friction welding seam; (e) tempering or stress relief annealing the piston blank, preserving the heat affected zone(s) (30, 30'); (f) post-treating and/or finishing the piston blank to obtain a piston (10, 110, 210).