McLaren must help Oscar Piastri stop “thinking” about how to drive ’26 F1 car

Setembro 16, 2026 lojamais44@gmail.com

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Oscar Piastri’s current deficit to Lando Norris is down to the Australian still “thinking and driving” with the 2026 Formula 1 machinery.

Piastri’s discomfort with the new breed of F1 cars has been evident throughout the season so far. It had become clear over the previous two years that his strengths lie in carrying speed through high-speed corners and in high-grip conditions. The reduced aero output and narrower tyres dictated by the 2026 rules have stripped away much of the grip from the new cars, bringing Piastri out of his overall comfort zone.

This, allied to the charge-and-deploy nature of the ’26 powertrains, has contributed to Piastri’s tough year thus far. While he and Norris were incredibly close across the course of 2025, aside from the lower-grip races among the final flyaways, Norris has held a clear advantage through this year.

Stella says that Piastri will improve if McLaren is able to stop him from “thinking” while on-track, and accepts that driving this year’s MCL40 does not feel like a natural process for the Melburnian.

“I think with Oscar we need to qualify better, stay closer to the podium finish positions from the start,” Stella began. “In Monza he was P3 at the end of qualifying but somehow we managed to start P6 for the impeding. So there are several circumstances of which we need to take more control.

“We need to execute better and then at the same time we need to get more in tune between Oscar and the MCL40 because still Oscar is driving and thinking. And when you drive and think, things get slowed down; slower as a driver in terms of deciding what to do and ultimately you are slower in terms of lap times.

“So I think the agenda is very clear as to what we have to improve and I expect, like I always say, that we will get on top of that and we will see a stronger Oscar in the final part [of the year].”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

Piastri suffered front wing damage in the first corner after encountering George Russell’s Mercedes, which left the diveplane flapping around against the endplate.

Stella says that McLaren was concerned about the impact on Piastri’s front tyres, but the hard compound was durable enough to ensure that he experienced no graining – thus not necessitating a front wing change. He even managed to put a pass on Arvid Lindblad after his pitstop, but ended up becoming trapped behind Franco Colapinto’s Alpine to finish seventh.

“The front wing damage cost Oscar a few units of aero balance,” Stella added. “So definitely very measurable.

“We were actually quite worried that this would have caused a lot of graining because the front end lost a lot of downforce. As a matter of fact, and thankfully, the hard tyres were hard and resistant enough not to open up the graining so Oscar could stay in the race.

“When it comes to Oscar, I think the race was definitely compromised by not only the damage on the car but having lost further positions at the start. So I think even without the damage, it would have been a difficult race to get more out of the situation in which he found himself.”