McLaren boss reveals the MOST IMPRESSIVE thing about Piastri

Oscar Piastri

McLaren boss reveals the MOST IMPRESSIVE thing about Piastri

Stella highlights Piastri's adaptation to McLaren and expects his full talent to shine through with upgrades

Luis Raya

Saturday 19 August 2023 13:57

Andrea Stella has hailed Oscar Piastri's strong performance before the summer break, and admitted his hopes that he can shine in the second part of the season with the team's upgrades.

After a contractual battle with Alpine in 2022, Oscar Piastri moved to McLaren to make his Formula 1 debut in 2023. The 22-year-old Australian dominated in the lower categories, winning Formula 3 in 2020 and Formula 2 in 2021, prompting high expectations.

However, the start of 2023 wasn't the dream debut for Piastri in Formula 1. The poor performance of the MCL60 hindered his early races until McLaren introduced a significant package of upgrades that made the car highly competitive.

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As a result of these improvements, Piastri has performed at an exceptional level, coming close to the podium on two occasions and securing an impressive second place in the sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix.

In 12 Formula 1 races, Piastri has displayed impressive performance

Upgrades will allow him to show off his talent

McLaren's team principal, Andrea Stella, has expressed his satisfaction with the Australian driver and insisted that the best of this season is yet to come.

"I think where he is at the moment is part of the gradient that we saw right from the start at testing and the first races. I'm not sure [Piastri's progression] has actually accelerated. I think he just took benefit from the car being more competitive, therefore there are more opportunities to show what he is capable of," Stella told Motorsport.com.

"The interesting point of Oscar is that he's making all this look simple. He's making it look simple that in these conditions you pit, you lead the race, and you go from inters to dry [conditions] and you never kind of make a mistake or so.

"I think this is the most impressive thing that I can witness. And all this is achieved with a pretty unique approach in terms of how calm and considerate he is. And so far, indeed quite impressive," he added.