McLaren team principal has praised Oscar Piastri for his strong fightback in Mexico. Image: XPB Images
While teammate Lando Norris dominated from pole to victory — retaking the championship lead from Piastri by a single point — the weekend proved far more challenging for the 24-year-old, who struggled for pace at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and extended his podium drought to four races.
Despite qualifying only seventh, Stella said Piastri’s performance in the race showed a clear step forward, even if it was masked by traffic.
He noted that the low-grip circuit exposed an area where Piastri’s natural driving style didn’t align with the car’s requirements.
“We reviewed with Oscar extensively from a data, comment, video point of view, and I think we extracted some important information in terms of how the car needs to be driven in these special low-grip conditions that we are facing here in Mexico,” Stella explained.
“It looks like in this regime, you have to drive the car in a way that adapts to the fact that the car slides a lot and can slide and produce lap time. This is not necessarily the way in which Oscar feels naturally that he is producing lap time.”
According to Stella, both the team and driver made adjustments that paid off in Sunday’s race.
“We identified a few things that we could do with the car and a few things that he could do with the driving,” he added.
“And I think Oscar should be very proud of himself of how he has handled the transition from yesterday to today.
“We could see in the race that he was applying this. [He] definitely had a more competitive pace than yesterday.”
Stella also acknowledged that Piastri’s efforts were hampered by traffic, noting the result might have been stronger had he found clear air
“It’s a bit of a shame that he was not in condition to fully use the space because we could not find the way to just get him out of traffic,” he said.
“He spent the entire race looking at the gearbox of the car ahead.”
The McLaren boss believes the experience will ultimately serve Piastri well as the championship enters its final stretch.
“It’s important for Oscar that we go through this kind of experience in which we learn new tools to add to the toolbox, because that’s how you become the most complete version of a Formula 1 driver,” Stella said.
“And this is also important for the next four races in which we’re going to find, again, different conditions.
“So, we need to be ready for all of them. But I think Oscar should be very proud and happy with this race.”