McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has responded to an expletive-laden radio message from a furious Oscar Piastri during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Piastri’s race prospects spectacularly unravelled in Hungary, as the Australian went from leading the race on Lap 1 to retiring at midpoint.
Taking the lead into the second corner, he controlled the pace early on, but began to encounter issues before making his first pit stop.
As lead McLaren. Piastri had the right to pit first, but encountered a battling Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, making contact with Sainz on Lap 38.
A less than amused Piastri then took to the airwaves to voice his displeasure, as he knew the consequences: teammate Lando Norris would jump him in the pits due to the delay.
“Is he ******* stupid or what? Get out of the ******* way, you idiot! Oh my god,” he vented after the incident.
Piastri’s anger was equally aimed his team: “Mate, just don’t ******* talk to me now. Nice of you guys to factor that one in, by the way. Thanks.”
McLaren responds to Oscar Piastri message
Stella responded to Piastri’s criticism after the race, clarifying the critique was made in the heat of the moment, praising his race.
“First of all, let me say that immediately after the race, Oscar clarified that his comment was a comment made in anger, and that what happened today, in terms of how the race unfolded, the competition between the two McLaren drivers was all fair, and it was great racing,” Stella said to media.
“So from this point of view, I think we are pretty happy with the racing that we have seen; the drivers had their opportunities in corners one and two.
“I’m very pleased with the respectful approach that they had to each other, staying away from contact, and ultimately Oscar took the lead because he judged the grip in corner two better than Lando.
“From there, Oscar had his own opportunities of winning the race, leading the race. At some stage, we needed to pit to cover Hamilton because here you can’t really afford to give any positional advantage.”
Stella also revealed issues outside of Piastri’s and McLaren’s control, including a malfunctioning blue flag system warning.
“And then there were a couple of unfortunate episodes,” he stated. “Obviously, the most important is the fact that Oscar had a collision with a backmarker.”
“At the time, my understanding is that the blue panels were not working, so perhaps today was more difficult than normal for the backmarkers to appreciate what was happening in the mirrors.
“And Carlos is a very fair, very correct driver, so I’m sure that that was absolutely unintentional, but a bit of a shame for Oscar. He lost seconds, and at the same time, once Lando was released, then his pace was simply mega, and I think he found half a second per lap, and this pace meant that Lando could pit [and come out] ahead of Oscar.
“So for me, this is just great racing, sophisticated racing, in a way. And the good news is that the two McLaren drivers were in contention for a victory or a podium.
“So that’s certainly not a case [that he was put at a disadvantage from the timing of the pit stops]. I think Oscar understood it immediately. It’s absolutely understandable that when you lead the race for almost half [of it], and then you see yourself losing the lead because of an episode with a backmarker, then you know you may have a moment and make a comment in anger.
“But there’s absolutely no problem from this point of view.”
Stella’s openness in addressing Piastri’s challenging afternoon hints at the conflicted feelings inside the McLaren garage on Sunday in Hungary, Both sides will want a reset during the summer break.
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