Oscar Piastri says his difficulty overtaking Lewis Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix highlighted a number of weaknesses that McLaren is facing. The Australian was running a strong fourth after overtaking Fernando Alonso early in the race and …
Oscar Piastri says his difficulty overtaking Lewis Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix highlighted a number of weaknesses that McLaren is facing.
The Australian was running a strong fourth after overtaking Fernando Alonso early in the race and appeared to be a threat to Charles Leclerc [lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]for the podium, but was then stuck behind Hamilton when the Mercedes driver didn’t pit under the safety car. Hamilton had the top speed to keep Piastri at bay until he finally made his own stop, showing up a lack of top speed for the McLaren.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“I’m not sure fun is the word I would use,” Piastri said. “Frustrating, yes. I mean, I think it kind of just showed a couple of weaknesses of ours definitely. I was very relieved when he boxed out of the way but just didn’t quite have enough on the straights mainly to get past.
“I was hoping he was going to pit about 15 laps before he did, but I think he started to struggle on the tires because I was basically past him when he boxed. He had to pit at some stage, and that seemed like a good time to do it.”
Although McLaren moved ahead of Mercedes in the constructors’ standings in Jeddah, Piastri says the fact that he couldn’t overtake Hamilton shows how track position is key between the two teams.
“I think it’s very, very even. I think we have different strengths and weaknesses for sure. And I think qualifying made the difference (in Saudi Arabia). I think Lewis showed that if we qualify behind them, there was a good chance we were going to be stuck behind them for the whole night.
“So I think it’s very, very tight between us. And yeah, we need to do some work to try and jump them and catch the two teams ahead.”
The next round is Piastri’s home race in Melbourne, and he believes a repeat of his fourth place would constitute a strong result given the track characteristics at Albert Park.
“I think there’s a bit of a mix, a bit more low speed than. But we’ll see. Hopefully we can have a good race. If there’s one race of the year you can pick to have a good one it’s your home race. So we’ll try our best. But yeah, I think if we can finish around where we did (in Jeddah), that would be the most we can do.”
McLaren’s driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both capable of delivering a world championship as the team gets closer to the standards it needs, according to Zak Brown. Daniel Ricciardo was released one year before the end of his …
McLaren’s driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both capable of delivering a world championship as the team gets closer to the standards it needs, according to Zak Brown.
Daniel Ricciardo was released one year before the end of his contract after two tough years at McLaren, with rookie Piastri signed as his replacement after Alpine failed to secure his future. While Brown says he retains a good relationship with Ricciardo – who has since returned to a race seat with the team most recently known as AlphaTauri – he sees the drivers as the most recent area that has been proven to be clicking as McLaren moves closer to the front.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“I’m very happy Daniel is back in Formula 1,” Brown said. “Daniel has always been great to work with, he’s always been a great friend. It was never a divorce that made anybody happy. So I’m very happy he’s on the grid. We still exchange notes on a somewhat regular basis, so I’m very happy that we’ve ended up maintaining a good relationship.
“And then of course very happy that Oscar has performed in the way he has, and we’ve got visibility to what our driver line-up looks like for the foreseeable future with a very experienced 24-year-old and an awesome rookie at 22.
“That’s a pretty awesome driver line-up as we look at what we need to get back to winning world championships, it starts with two drivers that are capable of winning the world championship. I think we’ve got that.”
Brown says the way other aspects are working so well highlight the potential within McLaren, with team principal Andrea Stella monitoring how close it is to being ready to fight of titles.
“I think we have the team. I think we now have the resources and the technology, and now we just need to continue to push forward and the culture.
“The pit stops are great. I think that illustrates how well the team is working together. So we’ve just got to kind of get that pit stop culture in every single part of the racing team. I think we’re there.
“Andrea has this kind of world championship material terminology that he uses, and this pie chart. It started at half green, quarter amber, quarter red. And the green is 75%, and the amber and the red is reduced, and I think we just need a little bit more time to get it to be all green.”
Lando Norris admits he is “gutted” to have only qualified seventh for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite feeling his McLaren was good enough for pole position. McLaren appeared to be a threat for pole throughout qualifying and Norris set the fastest …
Lando Norris admits he is “gutted” to have only qualified seventh for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite feeling his McLaren was good enough for pole position.
McLaren appeared to be a threat for pole throughout qualifying and Norris set the fastest time of Q2 to put himself firmly in the frame. However, with heavy rain approaching quickly in the final part of qualifying, Norris could only manage seventh on the grid and says it feels like a missed opportunity.
“It was great, honestly — the car was amazing,” Norris said. “Easily probably quick enough to be quickest today and on pole, so pretty gutted it had to end the way we did. I don’t know how to feel about it — I think the car was amazing, it came alive a lot in qualifying and easily good enough to be quickest I would say.
“Obviously delivering the lap and putting it all together in Q3 and everything is a different job, but easily quick enough. So disappointed, but not a lot we could have done.
“I look forward to tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s meant to be wet or dry tomorrow, but in the dry we should be quick enough. So, a shame.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Teammate Oscar Piastri was the penultimate car out on track and slid off at Juncao — the final braking zone — and says he found the conditions tricky as he ended up 10th on Sunday’s grid.
“Just lost a lot of grip,” Piastri said. “I don’t know if it was already raining but I was struggling a lot already on the lap — I think everyone was, based on how slow the laps were. I just went in as I thought I had the last lap and slid straight off. A shame — the pace in the car was looking good — but we’ll try again tomorrow.”
On his first visit to Interlagos, Piastri at least saw positives from the speed he displayed on Friday with just one practice session to get comfortable.
“I think it was going well. It’s a difficult track to get right and get it all together. But it’s been a good day in terms of pace, just obviously this weather has thrown a spanner in the works. I just need to look at what went wrong in Q3.”
Max Verstappen says McLaren’s driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is the best line-up of all the teams chasing Red Bull. McLaren has scored the most points of any team over the past three races, with its return of 104 points even …
Max Verstappen says McLaren’s driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is the best line-up of all the teams chasing Red Bull.
McLaren has scored the most points of any team over the past three races, with its return of 104 points even leading Red Bull’s next-best total of 74. Given the rate at which McLaren has been scoring, and with the team finishing second and third behind Verstappen in each of the past two races, the Dutchman says it makes Norris and Piastri his closest rivals.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“I do think that as a team they are probably the most consistent, compared to the others behind us,” Verstappen said. “And I do think they have the best driver line-up out of all of them. So yeah, they are operating really well. And, yeah, it’s going to be interesting to the end of the year, but also I think the start of next year to see where everyone is at.”
Having closed the gap to Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship to just 11 points in rapid fashion, McLaren is now being asked about the 79-point deficit to Ferrari in third place and whether that can negated over the final five rounds of the season.
“It’s doable,” Norris said. “I think so. A couple of races ago it was, 70-something to Aston. I don’t know what it is now … I mean, Fernando (Alonso) said we were overconfident as well! I think we’re just doing a good job, not just in terms of pace but we had a 1.8 second pit stop which is pretty impressive from the guys.
“They’ve been working extremely hard so to reward the whole team consistently is only more motivating and a bigger boost every weekend. They like the taste of success. It’s the first time they’re getting it consistently and I think that only makes them want it more and more and more every weekend that we’re doing so the guys are doing a great job. I think we’re both doing a decent job too, so we’ll keep it up.
“We know that Mercedes are very quick, probably as almost as quick as us (in Qatar), just they keep making mistakes. So I’m sure if they have a clean weekend they will maybe make our life a bit more tricky and therefore I’m not as confident in saying it.
“But like I was comparing to Ferrari, it was only three weekends ago that Ferrari were on pole and almost winning races and nothing has really changed, it’s just a different track. We’re looking better, they’re looking a bit worse. I think we’re definitely not overconfident. We’re confident, I think we need to be, but we know there’s still going to be some races where we’re not going to be quite as strong.”
McLaren’s recent form has seen it pick up back-to-back double-podium finishes, but Piastri warns that’s not a trend that’s likely to continue.
“I think Suzuka and (Qatar) have probably been tracks we’ve been looking at for quite a while in terms of what’s going to favor us,” Piastri said. “I think there’s going to be some races that are going to be more difficult than (Qatar) and probably will suit other teams a bit better.
“I think 79 points in what, five races and a couple of Sprints? It’s a big challenge but yeah, we’ll give it a go. I think obviously the gap to Aston now is very achievable. But yeah, hopefully we can do it.”
Oscar Piastri attributes his second place in the Qatar Grand Prix to the way “the heavens parted” as he made places at the start to cap off an excellent weekend. Already with a Sprint pole and victory under his belt from Saturday, Piastri was …
Oscar Piastri attributes his second place in the Qatar Grand Prix to the way “the heavens parted” as he made places at the start to cap off an excellent weekend.
Already with a Sprint pole and victory under his belt from Saturday, Piastri was starting sixth in the main race after having his fastest lap time in qualifying deleted for track limits violations. That error was negated almost immediately though as Piastri emerged from the first corner in second place behind Max Verstappen, saying he did nothing special in avoiding the collision between the Mercedes drivers ahead.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“Hit the brakes at the right time, and watch everyone else go off!” Piastri said. “Honestly, it was as simple as that. I don’t really know what happened. Obviously, saw some cars spinning and whatever else but, yeah, the heavens kind of just parted way for me and through to second I went.”
Picking up a total of 26 points from the race weekend, Piastri admits it was one of the best weekends of his rookie career as he fought at the front for a second race in a row.
“It’s been pretty exceptional, to be honest. I think Friday was difficult. Obviously a bit disappointed after qualifying on Friday, but (Saturday) went as close to perfect as it could have. And (in the race) I think second was probably the most we could have done. So, very, very happy.
“Exciting weekend, a lot of progress made, and I think I’m just very proud of the fact that as a team and also for myself personally, that we’ve managed to get the most out of what our car’s been capable of.
“I think (maximum stints) probably helped us rather than hindered. I think it ended up in a race where we could push flat out the whole time or very close to, which I don’t think I’ve been able to say in an F1 race before. So, I think it probably helped us a bit.
“I think the Red Bull normally is a step ahead in terms of tire degradation maybe we didn’t see that as much with the rules. But I think also our car pace this weekend has been very strong. So I think that’s also been another factor.”
Piastri’s second place did look under threat at one stage as teammate Lando Norris closed in late on, with the Australian admitting he wasn’t expecting McLaren to impose team orders in the final ten laps to bring the cars home.
“I was a little bit surprised to be honest. I would have accepted it either way. But obviously there was a lot of concerns about tires and track limits and stuff. So I think getting second and third for the team was the most important thing.”
Oscar Piastri admits there were stressful periods in the sprint as he took his first victory at the Qatar Grand Prix, thanking the timing of Safety Cars for helping him keep Max Verstappen at bay. Saturday’s earlier sprint shootout had seen Piastri …
Oscar Piastri admits there were stressful periods in the sprint as he took his first victory at the Qatar Grand Prix, thanking the timing of Safety Cars for helping him keep Max Verstappen at bay.
Saturday’s earlier sprint shootout had seen Piastri lead a McLaren one-two, but the pair — and Verstappen — were all attacked by drivers starting on soft tires while the top three all chose mediums. With George Russell taking the lead for a spell, Piastri said he feared the wrong tire choice had been made at one stage but then felt the race coming back towards him.
“Very happy. I like sprint Saturdays apparently!” Piastri said. “It’s been a really good day. Obviously started well in the sprint shootout, and a pretty crazy sprint this evening. I’m happy to come out on top, and also I think it was really exciting for everyone to watch as well with the soft guys at the start. I thought I was in a lot of trouble with how much pace they had, but they dropped off just as quickly, so very, very happy.
“I think at the start it was a bit difficult to judge with the safety car which wasn’t helping the medium tire at all because it would cool down way too much. It was when Carlos was behind me and tried to overtake, after that they dropped back very quickly and from one lap to the next George lost a lot of pace.
“That’s when I knew I was in a good rhythm. It was just how quickly Max was going to come through and how quickly Lando (Norris) was going to come through as well. It was stressful at times but glad we could see it out.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Piastri admitted he had already worked out Russell in the lead was not his biggest threat but was still fearing a fight back from Verstappen before a late interruption bought him some breathing space.
“It was just before the last safety car really,” he said. “That last safety car was pretty nice for me, I’ll be honest! I knew that I had to try and get as much of a gap while Max was behind George as quickly as I could, [and] I managed to get out enough, and then the pace at the end was also pretty good, too. I think it was about ten laps to go, or eight laps to go, at that point I thought it might be a tough ask at the end, so I’m thanking the safety car drivers today.”
After securing his first win, Piastri says there were good lessons for Sunday’s grand prix when he will try to fight through from sixth on the grid after losing a higher starting position due to track limits violations in qualifying.
“I think we learned a lot,” he said. “I think the soft at the start was obviously extremely strong and dropped off. Everyone’s tires stayed together so that was a bonus. It was more or less as we expected. The wind dropped a bit, and with so many safety cars it gave you a lot of restarts and different tire temperatures and stuff. Tomorrow is obviously going to be a very different kind of race, but a lot of interesting things to learn.”
Max Verstappen has won the 2023 Formula 1 world championship after finishing the Qatar sprint second behind first-time winner Oscar Piastri. Verstappen started third on the grid but needed only to prevent teammate Sergio Perez from outscoring him by …
Max Verstappen has won the 2023 Formula 1 world championship after finishing the Qatar sprint second behind first-time winner Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen started third on the grid but needed only to prevent teammate Sergio Perez from outscoring him by six points to seal the deal in the 62-mile sprint.
Polesitter Piastri took the lead thanks to a sizzling start, with soft-tire gambler George Russell slotting into second ahead of Ferrari teammates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen got a poor start and dropped to fifth after being crowded wide off the track by a slower-starting Lando Norris, but his battle to move forward was halted almost immediately by a safety car to collect Liam Lawson’s AlphaTauri — beached in the stones at Turn 2 due to a snap of oversteer on the low-grip track.
Piastri couldn’t shake Russell at the restart, and a wide approach to Turn 6 left the door fractionally ajar to a deep dive from the Mercedes driver to take the lead, the soft tires outgunning the McLaren’s mediums.
The race was slowed again before the lead battle could really get going, this time for the spun-off Logan Sargeant at Turn 7, and at the resumption Russell gapped the field by more than a second, keeping himself safely out of DRS range.
Russell and his fellow soft-tire gamblers rapidly began to suffer for their choice of rubber.
By lap nine, with the help of DRS, Verstappen was easily through on both soft-shod Ferrari drivers into third, and one lap later Piastri had closed back onto Russell’s gearbox and was comfortably through into the lead into the first turn of lap 11.
Russell radioed his team frantically that his tires were done and to consider a pit stop when the safety car was deployed a third time for a three-car crash between Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and sole title rival Perez.
Hulkenberg was sandwiched by Ocon on his inside and Perez on his outside into Turn 2. The Alpine hadn’t registered he was battling a pair of cars to his right side and attempted to take the racing line in the braking zone but instead struck the front-left tyre of the Haas. The Haas in turn knocked the Red Bull Racing machine, sending all three spinning off the road. Hulkenberg returned to the pits with race-ending damage, while Ocon and Perez had their races ended, beached in the gravel.
With the Mexican unable to score, the title was decided in Verstappen’s favor with eight laps still to run.
The race resumed on lap 14 with Piastri in the lead, and by the end of that tour Verstappen was pressuring Russell for second, forcing the Briton to concede the place into the first turn of lap 16.
The gap to the lead stood at 2.6s with four laps remaining, but Verstappen could reduce the margin by only 0.6s in his first two laps.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Piastri stabilized the gap expertly, losing only another 0.2s to claim his first race win in Formula 1, with Verstappen doing more than enough to claim his third world title from second.
“A fantastic feeling,” Verstappen said. “It’s been an incredible year, a lot of great races.
“I’m super proud of the job of the team. It’s just been so enjoyable to be part of that group of people.
“Today was quite an exciting race. A bit of a shame with the safety cars, but overall it was good. It was fun out there.
“I’m enjoying the moment, and hopefully of course we can keep this momentum going for a while.
“To be a three-time world champion is just incredible.”
Piastri collected the first win of his career and McLaren’s first victory since compatriot Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian Grand Prix in 2021, albeit his landmark result coming in a sprint race.
“Very happy,” he said. “A very stressful race.
“When I saw all the soft guys come through at the start I thought we were in a bit of trouble, but then their tires fell off pretty quickly.
“The safety car was my friend today, especially once Max got behind me, but the pace was reasonable.
“First sprint win sounds pretty cool.”
Norris recovered to third place late in the race, passing both Ferrari drivers and the fading Russell in the final three laps to stand on the sprint podium.
“First of all congrats to Oscar and congrats to Max,” the Briton said.” [Oscar’s] first win — earlier than mine — well done to him.
“Another podium or us, so for the team it’s been a mega day.”
George Russell retained fourth ahead of medium-starting teammate Lewis Hamilton, who recovered seven places from his starting position as the soft starters on the grid slipped down the order.
Carlos Sainz held sixth ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, but the Monegasque was just 0.004s ahead of the charging Alex Albon, who finished eighth, up from 17th on the grid, to score the final point of the sprint.
Fernando Alonso battled with Norris early but sunk to ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Oscar Piastri can only improve his race pace with experience and is showing all of the signs that he will develop quickly as a driver. Piastri scored his first podium at the Japanese Grand Prix but was …
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Oscar Piastri can only improve his race pace with experience and is showing all of the signs that he will develop quickly as a driver.
Piastri scored his first podium at the Japanese Grand Prix but was comfortably beaten to second place by teammate Lando Norris in a race of high tire degradation at Suzuka. The Australian stated he wasn’t fast enough in certain sections of the race and Stella says it’s natural for a rookie to need to experience such challenges to build up the knowledge required to handle tire-limited races.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“I think when it comes to race pace, it’s not like you learn race pace and then it’s a set of skills that you deploy for every race,” Stella said.
“So I think that’s why it’s a bit of a journey and it takes time because every situation presents its own characteristics. I’m sure Oscar will have learned things and actually I think towards the end he was already better than he was in the second stint.
“It’s just systematic work of cashing in all the possible learning. There’s not one-off learning that is applicable to every situation, it’s just a rookie element.
“But the first thing I would take is always the outright speed, which is what we saw (in qualifying), because when you have that, race pace and all these things are much easier to work on. But finding the edge on a single lap in Suzuka like was saw is more difficult to sort of work together with your engineers, that’s a gift.”
The double podium result in Japan helped McLaren closed the gap to Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship to 49 points, but Stella says he doesn’t need to openly set the team a target of winning that battle.
“I don’t even want to think that there’s anybody at McLaren that needs this kind of carrot to push any harder, because I trust and I believe that everyone is pushing at the fastest reasonable sustainable pace. That’s what I want and that’s what I think is happening.
“If you start thinking of ‘We need to finish fourth’, everyone will say ‘Andrea, we know already, you don’t need to tell us, we don’t have to declare this to the world, we’re just going as fast as we can’. That’s the attitude.”
Oscar Piastri capped off a special week that included a contract extension and first front-row start with his maiden podium at the Japanese Grand Prix. On Wednesday McLaren announced a new deal for Piastri that keeps him with the team until the end …
Oscar Piastri capped off a special week that included a contract extension and first front-row start with his maiden podium at the Japanese Grand Prix.
On Wednesday McLaren announced a new deal for Piastri that keeps him with the team until the end of the 2026 season, and then on Saturday he secured his first top-two qualifying result for a grand prix, having only previously started a Sprint from the front row. A solid run to third gave the Australian rookie his first podium finish, although he feels he didn’t deliver his best race performance.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
“It’s definitely been a pretty special week with the announcement of the extension and then qualifying on the front row yesterday, first podium today,” Piastri said. “It’s been a very fun week. [There’s] still a lot to learn and try and improve on, but I’ll enjoy the moment for now.
“To get the first one, I don’t think it really matters where, It’s always going to be special. I think for myself, it probably wasn’t my strongest Sunday, so from that side of things, there are still a few things I want to work on. To get the first podium on pace as well is a very exciting moment.”
Piastri says a race like Suzuka — where only one car one-stopped due to high levels of degradation — will also prove to be good experience for him moving forwards.
“I just wasn’t quick enough at certain points of the race. These high deg races are probably the biggest thing I need to try and work on at the moment. I think it’s still quite fresh for me — obviously in all the junior racing before, there’s no races like this, so the only way you can learn is by doing the races.
“Had I done this race again, I’d have done it a bit different, but that’s all part of the learning. [It’s] exciting to know we can finish on the podium even if I feel there’s more to come.”
Teammate Lando Norris finished second for the second race in a row as McLaren picked up its first double podium of the year, and he says the result is a sweet one because of the team’s outright performance.
“From the team’s side of things, yes, I’m much happier,” Norris said. “Our first one (double podium) since Monza a few years ago. But in a way, our most deserved in terms of we’re there on pure pace. Nothing had to go our way, we’re just where we deserved to be.
“An incredible day for everyone, but also for myself. Things went maybe not always to plan, but the pace was extremely strong.
“I couldn’t challenge Max (Verstappen), I got into the lead for maybe half a second, so I’ll take that. In a way it feels better because the pace feels stronger, I could push. We were where we deserved to be. So a good job by the whole team to execute a perfect race.”
Oscar Piastri’s rookie season in Formula 1 has been consistently impressive to those on the outside, but McLaren team principal Andrea Stella sees similarities with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in certain areas that points to …
Oscar Piastri’s rookie season in Formula 1 has been consistently impressive to those on the outside, but McLaren team principal Andrea Stella sees similarities with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in certain areas that points to an even brighter future.
McLaren signed Piastri from Alpine in the middle of last season and had to go through a legal process to prove it had the contractual right to the highly rated Australian. A little over a year later after his arrival was confirmed, Piastri now has a fresh contract that runs through to the end of 2026, securing his long-term future after just 15 races.
For Stella, the success of Piastri is not unexpected given the amount of research into his abilities and potential McLaren committed to. The McLaren team boss offered high praise of some of the 22-year-old’s attributes that he likened to multiple world champions he has worked with.
“Obviously when McLaren so strongly wanted to sign Oscar, we looked at the results in the junior categories,” Stella said. “But what happened in the early days of the collaboration with Oscar is we could see that what he achieved in the junior categories had good reasons for that to happen.
“We could see this in the natural speed, which is related to the talent to some extent. We even saw it in the first day of the simulator in the way he was assessing his own performance, saying, ‘This is where I am. This is where I need to improve.’ It was matching so well with what we could see from the data. That was quite impressive.
“That’s where I thought, ‘It’s just a gift’ to some extent. His self-awareness in relation to speed, in relation to how to go and grab this speed opportunity — this became apparent at the tests and then race by race.
“Then we saw the qualities at the attitudinal level, and these qualities have to do with being able to continuously improve. You may be as talented as I’m saying, but I’m sure there are a lot of people that were talented but it didn’t lead anywhere because there was no attitude to continuous improvements.
“I think we have really good examples now on the grid of drivers that can keep being extremely competitive because of continuous improvements. I think this one is a similarity with Fernando (Alonso).
“Then we have the person behind the driver. For us it was important to make sure that the person that we keep on board is a person that not only fits our culture but will contribute to establishing the culture even more and potentially adding to the culture — adding to the values and the behaviors that make us become a team of mates.
“And in this sense Oscar, I have to say, from just a personal point of view, if he wasn’t a Formula 1 driver, I would appreciate him as a person. The values he brings into the sport and the values he brings into the collaboration with the team in this sense makes me think about Michael (Schumacher).
“Somebody who worked with Michael here in the paddock — he is at another team — said to me he was so capable of building families. He was definitely tough on track, but within the team, the spirit, the sense of unity was like a family.
“So I think I’m referring to natural talent, attitude culture and values. These three things became apparent to us relatively soon, and that’s why the conversations started soon.”
Those conversations were not about a simple contract extension, Stella says, but a new deal that reflects the faith McLaren has in Piastri as a future championship contender.
“It is a new contract because it became very apparent for us that we wanted to secure this prospect and we wanted to realize the full extent of the collaboration,” Stella emphasized. “It came at the point in which it was very apparent for us that Oscar is the right driver for McLaren, because of many, many reasons. I would like to say that this has been clear to us very early.
“The announcement comes now but actually the agreement was found pretty early on because what we needed to assess became clear and apparent to us very soon. I’m happy to say that the same was on Oscar’s side. It was a recognized by both parties that this is the collaboration that should lead both parties — from a team point of view and from a driver point of view — into the future.”
It’s not just from a driving point of view that Piastri has impressed McLaren either, with his approach and demeanor proving the perfect fit and helping create an atmosphere that Stella says is important to allow the team to perform at its best.
“There’s one attribute of his personality that we all appreciate and that when you are in a pressurized environment like Formula 1 becomes very important: he is a calm, considerate person,” Stella noted. “He doesn’t have nervous reactions. He doesn’t have unnecessary irritation. He doesn’t have tension in his comments.
“His comments are a genuine report of what happens with the car or of what happens in a situation that wasn’t ideal — you know you can trust what he’s saying. He’s not speculatively adding anything because he needs to promote himself. He’s trustworthy and calm.
“To be honest, calmness is a quality I generally try to strengthen as much as possible throughout the team because otherwise you can become — like I say, there are already enough reasons to be tense for the competition itself. Nobody should create additional (tension) just through behaviors or the way you speak to your colleagues or the way you report things.
“So he is calm. He is very considerate with his words. He is very considered with the way he presents himself and he’s somebody you know you can trust.”
Stella (middle) says Piastri’s natural acceptance of the role of team player alongside teammate Lando Norris is as valuable to McLaren as his speed. Steven Tee/Motorsport Images
Stella cites Piastri’s ready acceptance of McLaren’s decision to try out upgrades on Lando Norris’s car first as another example of the Australian being able to put the team’s long-term prospects ahead of his own short-term ones
“Twice this year we had a situation where we needed to make a call: who do we give the new upgrades? Both times they went to Lando because we thought that’s the best thing for the team, which is the only perspective to decisions that we adopt in our team,” Stella said. “Like in Singapore, for instance — new track for Oscar, very tricky track. Do you really want to give him the concern in free practice one? It could be wet, and this decision needed to be made weeks before because we needed to change the chassis at the factory. But let’s leave Oscar alone. He builds up through the weekend, and he managed from 17 to finish seventh thanks to that.
“In both times the conversations with Oscar were calm, rational and constructive where it was easy for me to say, ‘I’m talking in the name of the team’ and it was easy for him to understand that. Even if as a driver you always want to have the highest potential package, it definitely prevailed in his rational team-player approach to this conversation.
“At no point during the Singapore weekend did we have any annoyance, any comment like, ‘I’m a little slower here but obviously the other one has the new parts.’ Not even indirectly. And this means that everyone listening, everyone looking at the person, gets (shown) something by example.
“That’s the fit with the culture. Leaders — and drivers are definitely leaders in a Formula 1 team — lead by example, and Oscar you can trust is going to do it even when he is at a disadvantage.”
