The McLaren boss attributes the Australian's lack of pace to excessive reflection behind the wheel of the MCL40. The team has designed a plan for him to recover his fluency and fight for the podium again in the final stretch of the season.
Andrea Stella has identified the source of Oscar Piastri's problems. The McLaren boss considers that the Australian driver is "thinking too much" while driving the MCL40, which prevents him from extracting the full potential of the car and is costing him valuable tenths in qualifying and races: "I think with Oscar we need to qualify better and be closer to the podium positions from the start, there are several circumstances over which we need more control. We need to execute the work better and at the same time achieve greater synchrony between Oscar and the MCL40, since he still drives thinking too much" declared Stella in Madrid.
The Italian executive's diagnosis points to an adaptation problem. Piastri, who in 2025 had stood out for his ability to maintain great speed in fast corners, has not been able to consistently reproduce that style with the current generation of cars, the reduction in downforce and narrower tires have altered the behavior of the cars, reducing available grip and demanding a different driving approach.
For Piastri that adaptation process is proving slower than expected, Stella explained how this excess reflection directly affects performance: "When you drive thinking too much everything becomes slower, you become slower as a driver when deciding what to do and consequently, you do slower laps" he noted.
The McLaren boss trusts that the team can reverse the situation. "The plan is very clear in terms of what we need to improve and I hope we get past this seeing a stronger Piastri in the final part of the year" he added.
The Monza case is a representative example of Piastri's season, the Australian qualified third but a penalty for impeding another driver dropped him to sixth place on the grid, ruining his podium chances: "In Monza, he was third in qualifying but we ended up starting sixth due to a penalty. There are several circumstances over which we need more control" lamented Stella.
The figures reflect the gap between McLaren's two drivers, Piastri has 120 points and occupies seventh place in the championship, with two podiums and no wins. Lando Norris, for his part, is fourth with 186 points, two wins and five podiums. The 66 point difference between them is a reflection of the Australian's lack of consistency, who has not managed to find the consistency needed to fight for the title.
McLaren has established a strategy to recover Piastri's performance in the second half of the season. The goal is to achieve greater synchrony between the driver and the car so that Piastri can drive more instinctively and less analytically, the team trusts that with more adaptation time and specific work on the MCL40's setup, the Australian can recover the fluency that led him to shine in previous seasons.
Formula 1 will return to action in Baku, where Piastri will have a new opportunity to demonstrate that McLaren's recovery plan is producing results. The Australian knows time is pressing and that every race is a chance to recover the confidence and pace that made him one of the most promising drivers on the grid.
