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McLaren seeing “the strongest Oscar Piastri since he’s been in F1” after early setbacks
Andrea Stella believes Oscar Piastri is performing at his “strongest” level since joining the Formula 1 grid.
McLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella says that the Woking outfit is currently seeing “the strongest” Oscar Piastri since the Australian’s debut at the top level in 2023.
Having learned from being in a tough title battle last season, Piastri has shown his resilience by bouncing back from the obvious frustration of failing to start in both Melbourne and Shanghai.
At Suzuka last weekend, he qualified third and led from the start, and he was a potential winner before the timing of the safety car favoured Kimi Antonelli. He still finished a close second to the Mercedes driver.
Asked by Crash.net about the Suzuka race performance in the wake of his earlier disappointments, Stella made it clear that Piastri is performing at the highest level.
“Despite Oscar not having started the two main races at the start of the 2026 season, based on what we have seen in testing, in practice, in qualifying, based on his overall attitude and mental strength, I think we are I would say seeing the best version of Oscar, the strongest Oscar, since he’s been in F1,” said the Italian.
“I think, finally, he has had an opportunity to demonstrate it, and he has done it in its full extent, having gone through two [difficult] races, and especially if we think the home race, where you are not in condition to start for a situation that was completely avoidable, it can really bog you down.”
Stella stressed that the drivers have played an important role in pushing the team to greater heights in the wake of setbacks such as the double non-start in China.
“If anything, I think we’ve seen his steadiness, his strength, and a strength that he has been able to pass on to the team,” he noted. “Because the team gets a lot of inspiration from the charismatic leadership that the drivers can offer, and that’s definitely been a boost for the entire team to go through the adversities.
“So really well done to Oscar for the way he’s been facing this start to the season. And now it’s our responsibility, McLaren and the team, to offer Lando [Norris] and Oscar, once again, a car that can compete for victories.”
Stella admitted that being in the fight with Mercedes in Japan was not expected: “I think today we are surprised ourselves, honestly, that we were in condition to win.
“I think if we want to be in this condition consistently in the future, we will have to improve the chassis by a few tenths of a second. And that’s the aim that we have in relation to bringing upgrades to the coming races.”
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Andrea Stella believes Oscar Piastri is performing at his “strongest” level since joining the Formula 1 grid.
McLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella says that the Woking outfit is currently seeing “the strongest” Oscar Piastri since the Australian’s debut at the top level in 2023.
Having learned from being in a tough title battle last season, Piastri has shown his resilience by bouncing back from the obvious frustration of failing to start in both Melbourne and Shanghai.
At Suzuka last weekend, he qualified third and led from the start, and he was a potential winner before the timing of the safety car favoured Kimi Antonelli. He still finished a close second to the Mercedes driver.
Asked by Crash.net about the Suzuka race performance in the wake of his earlier disappointments, Stella made it clear that Piastri is performing at the highest level.
“Despite Oscar not having started the two main races at the start of the 2026 season, based on what we have seen in testing, in practice, in qualifying, based on his overall attitude and mental strength, I think we are I would say seeing the best version of Oscar, the strongest Oscar, since he’s been in F1,” said the Italian.
“I think, finally, he has had an opportunity to demonstrate it, and he has done it in its full extent, having gone through two [difficult] races, and especially if we think the home race, where you are not in condition to start for a situation that was completely avoidable, it can really bog you down.”
Stella stressed that the drivers have played an important role in pushing the team to greater heights in the wake of setbacks such as the double non-start in China.
“If anything, I think we’ve seen his steadiness, his strength, and a strength that he has been able to pass on to the team,” he noted. “Because the team gets a lot of inspiration from the charismatic leadership that the drivers can offer, and that’s definitely been a boost for the entire team to go through the adversities.
“So really well done to Oscar for the way he’s been facing this start to the season. And now it’s our responsibility, McLaren and the team, to offer Lando [Norris] and Oscar, once again, a car that can compete for victories.”
Stella admitted that being in the fight with Mercedes in Japan was not expected: “I think today we are surprised ourselves, honestly, that we were in condition to win.
“I think if we want to be in this condition consistently in the future, we will have to improve the chassis by a few tenths of a second. And that’s the aim that we have in relation to bringing upgrades to the coming races.”
McLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella says that the Woking outfit is currently seeing “the strongest” Oscar Piastri since the Australian’s debut at the top level in 2023.
Having learned from being in a tough title battle last season, Piastri has shown his resilience by bouncing back from the obvious frustration of failing to start in both Melbourne and Shanghai.
At Suzuka last weekend, he qualified third and led from the start, and he was a potential winner before the timing of the safety car favoured Kimi Antonelli. He still finished a close second to the Mercedes driver.
Asked by Crash.net about the Suzuka race performance in the wake of his earlier disappointments, Stella made it clear that Piastri is performing at the highest level.
“Despite Oscar not having started the two main races at the start of the 2026 season, based on what we have seen in testing, in practice, in qualifying, based on his overall attitude and mental strength, I think we are I would say seeing the best version of Oscar, the strongest Oscar, since he’s been in F1,” said the Italian.
“I think, finally, he has had an opportunity to demonstrate it, and he has done it in its full extent, having gone through two [difficult] races, and especially if we think the home race, where you are not in condition to start for a situation that was completely avoidable, it can really bog you down.”
Stella stressed that the drivers have played an important role in pushing the team to greater heights in the wake of setbacks such as the double non-start in China.
“If anything, I think we’ve seen his steadiness, his strength, and a strength that he has been able to pass on to the team,” he noted. “Because the team gets a lot of inspiration from the charismatic leadership that the drivers can offer, and that’s definitely been a boost for the entire team to go through the adversities.
“So really well done to Oscar for the way he’s been facing this start to the season. And now it’s our responsibility, McLaren and the team, to offer Lando [Norris] and Oscar, once again, a car that can compete for victories.”
Stella admitted that being in the fight with Mercedes in Japan was not expected: “I think today we are surprised ourselves, honestly, that we were in condition to win.
“I think if we want to be in this condition consistently in the future, we will have to improve the chassis by a few tenths of a second. And that’s the aim that we have in relation to bringing upgrades to the coming races.”
[analyse_source url=”http://crash.net/f1/news/1092847/1/mclaren-seeing-strongest-oscar-piastri-hes-been-f1-after-early-setbacks”]