Stella defends Piastri amid ‘quite anomalous’ run of conditions

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella insists Oscar Piastri’s dip in form is not the sign of a driver losing his edge, but rather the product of a bizarre and unusually repetitive run of low-grip conditions — a sequence he describes as “quite anomalous.”

Piastri, who led the championship by 34 points after his brilliant Dutch GP win, suddenly finds himself 24 points behind teammate Lando Norris after six rollercoaster race weekends and two Sprint DNFs.

The momentum swing has raised eyebrows across the paddock, but Stella argues the story behind the results runs far deeper than simple performance swings.

Stella’s Take: ‘Weird’ Conditions and Fine Margins

Stella explained that Piastri’s recent run has been shaped by track characteristics that repeatedly exposed the same weaknesses.

"This sustained sequence of similar conditions is quite anomalous," Stella explained in Brazil last week.

"That you have had the tyres and the grip behaving like we have had at the last three events is weird, and the sport is so competitive that the difference is in the last 1%.

"Even if we say: 'Oh, Oscar has been here in Brazil', but it is the third time he drives in Brazil, and every year the conditions are subtly different.

"Like if we think of Lando, it took time for him to adapt to how the MCL39 was behaving and understanding what the front tyres were doing, where the limit of the grip was and understanding when the car was flicking to oversteer.

"It took quite a bit of time and quite a lot of work with Lando, and it was him on the back foot; it is so marginal."

Stella also acknowledged that Piastri’s slump began after the psychological jolt of being ordered to hand a position back to Norris in Italy – an instruction Piastri later admitted had eroded his confidence heading into Azerbaijan, where a crash in qualifying, and another impact with the barriers on the opening lap of the race set off the downturn.

Piastri’s Perspective: Flashes of Hope Amid the Chaos

Piastri, ever the optimist, hasn’t let the setbacks crush his spirit. Reflecting on his tough weekend in Sao Paulo, he admitted it’s been a rough ride.

“Things have not been going easily, that’s for sure,” Piastri said. “I think this weekend, there were definitely moments and flashes where I felt very comfortable.

“[In] practice, things were coming much more easily again, things felt really good. It kind of went away from us a little bit through the weekend.

“I think even just our pace as a team, I don’t think it was as strong as it was on Friday, and the car kind of went in a direction that I wasn’t a big fan of,” he said.

“But we tried our best to get the car in a good window, and obviously, the Sprint crash made things much more difficult as well.

“So, there’s just a lot of things going wrong at the moment, but I think there are still flashes of really strong pace, and it’s just about trying to make sure I’ve got that all the time.”

Read also:

• Piastri: Relationship with Norris ‘better than ever’ despite title fight

With only a handful of races left, the pressure is on for Piastri to rediscover his mid-summer form. For Stella and McLaren, it’s about fine-tuning the car to suit the Aussie’s style and praying for tracks with better grip.

Norris, now the championship frontrunner, looks poised to capitalize on his teammate’s struggles, but in F1, nothing’s guaranteed.

With 83 points left on the table, Piastri’s title hopes are dented but far from dead – and if Stella is right, the storm clouds may soon clear.

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