McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella tries to explain on Sky Sport F1 why Oscar Piastri is currently slower in qualifying than his teammate and world champion Lando Norris
According to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, there is a very specific reason why Oscar Piastri is, on average, one-tenth of a second slower than Lando Norris in qualifying. The 25-year-old’s driving style is likely a key factor in his current struggles.
“The drivers say that this generation of cars requires a specific driving style,” Stella told Sky Sport F1 after qualifying in Belgium. In Q3, Piastri was more than two-tenths of a second slower than Norris.
“Basically, if you drive too cleanly, you won’t get a good lap time,” Stella explains. “You really have to attack the car and accept that it’s going to slide. You have to be extremely proactive.”
“And this driving style,” the team principal described, “comes more naturally to Lando than to Oscar. We’re working with Oscar to ensure that he incorporates these characteristics into his natural driving style. We’ve seen this between other teammates as well, such as Antonelli and Russell, and sometimes even between Hamilton and Leclerc.”
Russell, in particular, has at times complained about the slippery handling of the 2026-spec Formula 1 cars. While the Mercedes driver is facing many questions following the Belgian Grand Prix, Leclerc was able to solve the mystery surrounding his driving style ahead of the race in Great Britain.
Consequently, the Monegasque driver managed to win his first Grand Prix of the season at Silverstone. According to Leclerc himself, he tried to find a way to better adapt the SF-26 to his natural driving style. At Spa, he was able to confirm this approach with a second-place finish.
“That’s exactly what we need to figure out, and then Oscar will be able to fully harness his talent,” Stella said in a conversation with Peter Hardenacke and Timo Glock. In the head-to-head qualifying battle between the two McLaren drivers, the reigning world champion leads 10 to 4 following the Belgian Grand Prix.
Piastri’s comments after qualifying echo this sentiment. “It’s just very difficult and very, very tough to drive this car,” he said. “If you can balance the car at the limit, then there seems to be lap time to be had there, but [doing exactly that] is really tough.”
When asked what the McLaren driver is lacking in order to push the car to its limit, his answer is: “[It’s] a little bit of everything, depending on exactly how you position [the car] and what the wind conditions are like, or what kind of corner you’re in.”
“It’s not a single, clear-cut problem. If you’re struggling a bit with everything, then it’s probably because of what the car is capable of. Getting more out of [the car] is… You just need more downforce.”
“But,” says Piastri, “over the last few weekends, the car has been a challenge, especially on the rear axle. It was pretty windy today, and it was also extremely windy at Silverstone. So I don’t know if that made [the car] even more challenging, but it certainly didn’t make it any easier.”
