Piastri trajectory ‘strong and consistent’ – McLaren

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella feels Oscar Piastri’s star is continuing to rise after witnessing his growth over the past few months of his rookie F1 season.

Piastri delivered the best performance of his fledgling career to date at the last race at Silverstone where he qualified third behind team-mate Lando Norris, and was only denied a podium by a safety car.

The remarkable factor for Stella is that across the British Grand Prix weekend, Piastri was a step behind with the upgrades that were initially introduced on Norris’ MCL60 at the race before in Austria.

Running without the new front wing at Silverstone that was on Norris’ car, the Australian finished just 0.131s behind the Briton in qualifying who went on to finish second in the race behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Piastri fourth.

Piastri was understandably frustrated in missing out, to which Stella said: “We all understand because he definitely deserved to be on the podium, and it was just the unfortunate timing of the safety car that he couldn’t achieve it.

“For Oscar, while we see this peak in his result, actually, for us it is just confirmation of his trajectory.

“If we go back to Bahrain, we were already talking about his progress from session to session, and from testing to the first race as well.

“I think this is just capitalising on this gradient that seems to be so strong and consistent for Oscar.”

In qualifying for the Hungarian GP, and running the same spec of car again as Norris, Piastri finished fifth before managing his first F1 top-three finish in the Sprint in Belgium.

The 22-year-old’s form is certainly in stark contrast to that of Daniel Ricciardo after replacing his compatriot at McLaren.

With the exception of a remarkable 2021 Italian Grand Prix victory, Ricciardo lost his way during his two years with the team, resulting in him exiting with a season still remaining on his contract.

Piastri has proven to be a breath of fresh air that has swept through the other side of the McLaren garage.

“They kept working with best practice, with the attention they’ve had in the previous years,” remarked Stella.

“It’s important from an engineering point of view that you learn as much as possible, having worked with different drivers, having gone through highs and lows. What’s important in this sport is that every day you are better than yesterday.

“So, even in terms of the engineering that supported Daniel and is now supporting Oscar, there’s definitely been quite a lot of learning and self-criticism, which is the way you cash in the learning from experience.”