Stella defends Piastri: Baku blunder just a ‘one-off’

Oscar Piastri’s F1 title bid hit a wave of turbulence in Azerbaijan, but McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has urged calm, dismissing suggestions the Australian is showing cracks under pressure.

The 24-year-old endured one of the roughest weekends of his short F1 career in Baku, with a sequence of small but costly mistakes culminating in a lap-one crash in last Sunday’s event.

However, despite his driver’s struggles, Stella remains unfazed, drawing parallels with Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher and other greats who endured similar setbacks over the course of their career.

Piastri’s title fight with Lando Norris had looked firmly under control heading into the weekend. But a 31-point advantage quickly shrank to 25 after the McLaren driver clipped walls in practice and qualifying before compounding his errors on race day.

A jumped start, a scrappy getaway, and finally a lock-up into the Turn 4 barriers left him with nothing to show for three days’ work. For a driver who has built his season on consistency, it was an unfamiliar storyline.

“Even Schumacher Had Weekends Like This”

Stella, who has worked alongside some of the sport’s most decorated drivers during his Ferrari years, was keen to put the episode in perspective.

“I've worked with multi-champion drivers and in a season, every season, even the most dominant, even by one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1, like Michael Schumacher, I have seen events like this,” he said.

“The most you take away is the learning because things become, for some reasons, difficult – and as soon as you misjudge the grip available, you get highly punished.

“So, a one-off for what has been probably the most solid driver in this season.

“A one-off weekend in which things don't go your way and you ultimately have a loss to review is no surprise, no exception that we should be worried about, because this has happened to pretty much all champions – even the ones with the best track record.”

Faith in Piastri’s Strengths

For Stella, Piastri’s response to adversity matters more than the mistakes themselves.

“These errors that we've seen on Oscar's side, they are definitely uncharacteristic,” he stressed.

“I think Oscar has been the most solid driver in the 2025 campaign so far, and for what I could see, even with multi-champion drivers, sometimes you have a weekend in which it's all about learning.”

Stella attributed Piastri’s lap-one crash to a combination of factors, including an overeager start and a misjudgment of grip.

“I think Oscar concentrated on some learning opportunities this weekend, despite his will. The start, I think it's just an excess of eagerness. I'm sure we have seen this now, and we won't see this anymore.

“In terms of the lock-up, similar to yesterday [Saturday], he just misjudged the level of grip available. Perhaps this was compounded with a slow start, with a false start. We don't know yet, or we don't know, it's not relevant really.

• Read also: Piastri admits to ‘lapses in judgement’ after Baku nightmare

“But I think one of the strongest features of Oscar is how rapidly he learns, how rapidly he improves, and how he can come back stronger.

“That's why he's been so successful in every category [F2 and F3 champion], and I think that's exactly what will happen in his Formula 1 career, and we will see it in the remainder of the season.”

Piastri has already scored seven victories and five poles this season – more than Norris – and, apart from his home-race error in Melbourne, has largely been a model of composure. Stella’s reassurance that Baku was simply a blip reflects the confidence McLaren still has in its title leader.

The challenge now is whether Piastri can absorb the lessons and return to the level of calm precision that has brought him to the brink of a world championship.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook