Piastri Shines in Miami: McLaren Commends His Skill

McLaren’s Piastri dazzled in Miami, impressing with his rapid pace and professionalism during the race.

McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella praised Oscar Piastri’s speed and professionalism at the Miami Grand Prix despite an unfortunate end to the race.

Piastri capitalized on Sergio Perez’s error in turn 1 to overtake both the Red Bull and Carlos Sainz, before also passing Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari to move into second place.

The Australian maintained this position during the first stint, but Leclerc passed him with an undercut, and then his teammate Lando Norris took the lead when he pitted under the safety car.

An exciting battle with Sainz ended in disaster for Piastri as he suffered damage and had to return to the pits, putting him out of points contention.

However, Stella believes Piastri learned valuable lessons from the weekend, citing how close his margin to Norris in qualifying was compared to the theoretical gap from the updates present on both single-seaters.

“I think Oscar comes out of this weekend even more aware of his strengths as a driver. We already knew how fast he was on a single lap. Consider that he didn’t have the complete package of updates, unlike Lando.”

“So let me pay tribute to Oscar. The gap he had with Lando in qualifying is smaller than the difference in the package he had.”

“He really performed well on a single lap in very challenging conditions, just like all drivers equipped with soft tires.”

Although Piastri was not able to match Norris’s lap times on longer stints, Stella believes his driver has improved in race management compared to previous races.

“His race performance was once again very good. Lando said something really nice. He said that watching Oscar overtake a Ferrari, he thought ‘wow, we’re really here.'”

“So, it was a realization for Lando himself. And Oscar was able to maintain a good pace during the first stint. So, I think he comes out of this weekend with strong convictions, that in terms of race pace, it’s something he has improved after Japan and China. So, for me, he is in a better position moving forward.”

Stella also praised the way Piastri responded when he was told he would only receive half of the updates brought by McLaren compared to Norris, who had the full set of new parts on his MCL38.

“He also comes out of this race having once again proven how much of a team player he is. Because clearly, when I told him, he wasn’t the happiest, you know, deep down. But at no point did he make this decision difficult. At no point did he say, ‘oh, but why?’ You know, he understood the reasoning and immediately supported it, like everyone around Oscar.”

“So, I think he leaves Miami with a lot of positives, and the fact that there was a collision with Carlos does not take away from the weekend that Oscar was able to have.”