McLaren believes Oscar Piastri’s win at the Chinese Grand Prix is a testament to the progress that he has made in Formula 1 since his struggles at the circuit in 2024.
Piastri produced an immaculate race at the Shanghai International Circuit as he converted his maiden pole position to lead team-mate Lando Norris in a McLaren 1-2.
The Australian’s return to the top step succeeded a second-place finish in the Sprint race to provide the ideal response to the heartbreak he experienced on home soil.
Piastri’s near-maximum points haul marks a complete contrast to his debut visit to the venue 12 months ago when he lagged a substantial 42 seconds behind Norris.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella disclosed several months later that a deep delve into the race with his engineers served as a turning point in Piastri’s sophomore season.
Stella has now recalled a discussion that he held with Piastri to dissect his woes as he hailed the strides that have been made in his development since that low point.
“I think his racecraft, his overall speed, his, to some extent his questions related to the race, they were very punctual,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“They were like the right question, at the right time. So I would consider that, once again, as part of the racecraft. They have improved over the winter.
“There’s been quite a lot of work, you know, a long list of opportunities, a long list of races that you review. Here we should do this, we should do that, these adaptations.
“But for me, the biggest indication of his progress is 12 months ago here in China.
“I still remember after the race, having a chat one-to-one with Oscar outside one of these hospitalities and, like, scratching our head a little bit and saying, like ‘there’s a lot to pick in terms of learning from this race’.
“And looking 12 months after, I think we took all this learning, and we capitalised.”
Piastri heralds McLaren’s ‘big turnaround’ in China
Piastri concurred with Stella as he heralded the work that he and McLaren have done behind the scenes to secure a more prosperous result in China this time around.
“I think saying I struggled a little bit last year is being pretty nice,” he remarked. “It was a big turnaround this weekend compared to China last year.
“It was a track that I had a lot of homework to do from 12 months ago.
“Yes, it’s changed a lot with the resurfacing, but there’s still a lot of challenges around just the layout, regardless of the surface.
“So yeah, I think for me it’s been very satisfying to have probably my most complete weekend in F1 this weekend be at a track I struggled the most at last year.
“So very pleased with the hard work that not just I’ve done, but the whole team around me.
“The engineers on my side of the garage, but everyone at McLaren – for firstly giving us a car that’s much stronger than it was 12 months ago here, but also being able to chip in where they can and try to help me improve.
“So I think it’s been a really nice show of progress in 12 months, but there’s still going to be challenges along the way. It’s just a nice confidence boost at the moment.”
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