McLaren boss Andrea Stella has revealed how Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix weekend instigated a turning point which has accelerated Oscar Piastri’s development.
Piastri endured a tough outing on his maiden trip to the Shanghai International Circuit as troubles with degradation saw him trail 42 seconds back from Lando Norris.
However, the Australian has since recovered to be back on the pace and out-qualified his team-mate at Imola to take second and also repeated that result in Monaco.
But while a three-place grid drop compromised his prospects at the Italian track, Piastri managed to convert his front row into a first podium this term in Monte Carlo.
“The last three weekends have been very solid, I think, for the whole team, but also for me personally,” Piastri said before the Canadian Grand Prix, where he came fifth.
“Monaco was really the first time that we got a really strong result out of it. But yeah, I mean, clearly the car is performing well at the moment and I feel like I’ve taken a step forward as well and been able to build some consistency in the last few weekends, which is always nice. But yeah, I feel like I’m in a good place.”
Piastri denied there was a single element responsible for his improved results and instead attributed his upturn to McLaren’s renewed competitiveness with upgrades.
“I would say more just a confidence thing,” he explained concerning his growth. “I think there have been good moments here and there, even at the start of the season.
“I think the first few rounds were quite promising, a couple of difficult races in the middle, but on the whole, I feel like I’ve taken a good step forward in quite a few areas from last year.
“I think it’s just been the consistency that’s really been the missing thing. So the last few weekends have been good to try and get on top of that.
“But I don’t think I’ve done anything special. I don’t think as a team we’ve really done anything special.
“We’ve just got the car in a good window. And with the upgrades, clearly it’s performing well. So yeah, I think we’re all just taking it up a notch.”
However, Stella disclosed Piastri has benefitted from a deep dive with his engineers post-China that’s helped him to clear up the areas where he was coming up short.
Asked whether he agreed with Piastri’s assessment that he has taken a marked step forward over recent weeks, Stella responded: “Yes, I think that’s the case.
“Especially after China, we looked at what we had learned in the first part of the season together with Oscar’s engineers, and we found a couple of opportunities that we started to work on.
“And I have to say that they seem to be delivering an acceleration in Oscar’s development.
“There’s always underlying development, but in this case, both in terms of pure speed, which you can see in qualifying.
“And in terms of race craft, I think we have seen Oscar competing at a very high level and, like I say, an acceleration in his development.”
Stella admitted that returning to certain tracks which presented an unknown proposition to Piastri in his rookie campaign has also been vital to his better showings.
“Coming back to the same track is definitely important,” he acknowledged. “There’s a sense of familiarity. There’s historical data.
“But in addition to that, it’s also that you have more races that you do in Formula 1, more races to work with your engineers, more races to just understand what you need to work on.
“So I think it’s not only the fact that you come to the same track for the second time, it’s just the overall journey of development, which I have to say for Oscar is quite impressive.”
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