Stallard: Piastri ‘calmness’ conducive to better team decisions

McLaren race engineer Tom Stallard says the “calmness” typically displayed by Oscar Piastri during a race helps his entire team maintain its composure, leading to better strategic decisions.

Stallard, who was assigned to Piastri at the start of the 2023 season, labeled the young Aussie’s second career win in F1 last weekend in Baku as "pretty special”, highlighting not only the result but especially the way it was achieved.

Piastri kept the heat on race leader Charles Leclerc in the opening stages before making a daring move to overtake the Ferrari on Lap 20 of 51.

Despite Leclerc’s repeated attempts to regain the lead in the closing laps, Piastri held firm to secure his second career win in Formula 1.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Stallard shared how intense the race’s second half was for the entire McLaren team as they watched Piastri deliver an outstanding performance.

“It was a pretty special race,” said Stallard. “The overtake he [Piastri] put in against Charles, he came from downtown with that one.

“From there on we hoped that the clear air would make things simpler, but it didn't. The next 30 odd laps were pretty stressful for everybody.

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• Webber: Piastri win in Baku ‘the best drive I’ve seen him pull off’

“We attacked Charles in the first stint and we didn't get past, and in doing so, we damaged the tyres quite a lot and then we weren't able to keep up with them anymore. Charles was able to build a big gap.

“Then we had a good pit stop. The pit stop itself was good. We were quick through the pit lane. Lando did a wonderful job for Oscar, helping out with Checo [Sergio Perez], and suddenly we were back on the gearbox of Leclerc.”

Stallard said that he made it a point of reminding Piastri at the outset of his second stint of what had happened in the first part of the race, urging him to measure his pace while keeping close to Leclerc, an incredibly difficult task.

“I wanted to remind [Oscar] what happened in the first stint, because it's still a lot of laps at that point, not an easy one-stop here by any means,” he added.

“So I sort of said, you know, remember in the first stint, we damaged the tyres a lot, attacking. And this time let's be tactical.

“He knows me well enough also to know that that's the scientist in me saying that, but the racer in me is saying ‘go and get him!’. And the racer in Oscar, fortunately, went and got him.

“We saw that the Ferrari and the Red Bull couldn't get past Oscar, and I'm not sure that those fortunes would have been reversed if the cars had been in a different order.”

Former F1 driver Mark Webber who manages Piastri’s interests, reckoned that his protégé had delivered in Azerbaijan “the best drive I’ve seen him pull off”.

Stallard agreed, although he admitted that several of Piastri’s previous drives had been just as remarkable, but hadn’t produced a “headline” result.

“The thing you have to understand is that also, as he's been here, the car underneath him has been getting better and better as well,” he explained. “So there have been other great drives that he's put together that haven't produced the headline result that this one clearly has.

“I think the thing that was so good to see really was the keeping a cool head. We know he's got a cool head, but keeping the cool head when under so much pressure from the car behind.

“It's a different level of pressure when it's for the win compared to when that's for fifth place.

“He's really calm and he genuinely is still really calm in that situation. It makes it very easy to work with because his calmness creates calmness in the people around him, and that makes it easy to make better decisions and think things through carefully.”

At 23 and with two Grands Prix wins under his belt, Piastri is undeniably a star in the making. But Stallard highlights that it’s early days still, and there’s still plenty for Piastri to learn.

“I mean, we weren't on pole and we didn't get fastest lap!” he noted a tad mischievously.

“We've been working really hard with Oscar this year on race tyre management and we've made massive strides with that. It's no longer a weakness, let's say.

“I still think there's plenty to learn. He's improving all the time with his understanding of the tyres.”

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