McLaren boss Andrea Stella believes the challenges that Oscar Piastri has experienced over recent races will see him become a “more complete” driver in Formula 1.
Piastri goes into the upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix without the championship lead, a position he’s not been in since the Bahrain Grand Prix almost seven months ago.
The Australian’s results have regressed since he won at Zandvoort, as he has gone four races without a podium to see a 34-point advantage turn into a one-point gap.
That comprised consecutive fifth-place finishes during the recent double-header in the United States and Mexico, where he struggled behind team-mate Lando Norris.
Stella highlighted that both rounds had exposed the weakness that Piastri has when it comes to circuits where grip is at a premium, conditions in which Norris excels.
But Stella has corroborated Piastri’s post-race revelation that he made progress towards addressing his limitation during the race with adaptations to his driving style.
“After qualifying, we reviewed with Oscar extensively from a data, comment, video point of view,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think we extracted some important information in terms of how the car is going to be driven in these special low-grip conditions that we are facing here in Mexico, to some extent, like we said, similar to Austin. So, similar conditions to Austin as well.
“It looks like in this regime, you have to drive the car in a way that adapts to the fact that the car slides a lot and can slide and produce lap time. This is not necessarily the way in which Oscar feels naturally that he is producing lap time.
“So, we identified a few things that we could do with the car and a few things that he could do with the driving.
“I think Oscar should be very proud of himself, of how he has handled the transition from yesterday to today.
“We could see in the race that he was applying this. He definitely had a more competitive pace than yesterday. And it’s a bit of a shame that he was not in condition to fully use this pace because we could not find a way to just get him out of traffic. He spent the entire race looking at the gearbox of the car ahead.”
McLaren expects Piastri to learn from recent setbacks
And Stella is certain that the setbacks that have blighted Piastri’s quest to land a maiden F1 title are the sort that will help him to become a more rounded competitor.
“It’s important for Oscar that we go through this kind of experience in which we learn new tools to add to the toolbox,” he continued. “That’s how you become the most complete version of a Formula 1 driver.
“And this is also important for the next four races in which we’re going to find, again, different conditions. So we need to be ready for all of them.
“But I think Oscar should be very proud and happy with his race [in Mexico].
READ MORE – How ‘speed of light’ learning could aid Oscar Piastri’s F1 title bid
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