McLaren pinpoints Oscar Piastri’s biggest problem: ‘Driving and thinking’

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Oscar Piastri’s biggest problem this season is that he is “driving and thinking”, and that’s slowing him down.

Having lost the world title to Lando Norris last year after a late-season slump, Piastri was tipped for a redemption campaign this year.

Andrea Stella explains Oscar Piastri’s McLaren struggles

Instead, his deficit to Norris has grown.

While the reigning world champion has two Grand Prix wins, Budapest and Zandvoort, Piastri has yet to stand on the top step of the podium.

He is trailing Norris in all the stats that matter; their qualifying head-to-head, race results, and the Drivers’ standings.

Norris has climbed to fourth in recent weeks with 186 points, while Piastri is in seventh place, 66 points behind his teammate.

It begs the question: what has gone wrong for Piastri?

His team principal, Stella, believes there are two main areas to address.

“I think with Oscar we need to qualify better, stay closer to the podium finish positions from the start,” Stella told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media in Madrid.

“In Monza he was P3 at the end of qualifying but somehow we managed to start P6 for the impeding. So there are several circumstances of which we need to take more control.

“We need to execute better, and then at the same time we need to get more in tune between Oscar and the MCL40 because still Oscar is driving and thinking.

“And when you drive and think, things get slowed down. Like you are slower as a driver in terms of deciding what to do, and ultimately you are slower in terms of lap times.

“So I think the agenda is very clear as to what we have to improve and I expect, like I always say, that we will get on top of that and we will see a stronger Oscar in the final part [of the year].”

Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri: McLaren F1 2026 scores

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

Piastri’s efforts also haven’t been helped by some unfortunate situations such as his incident with Carlos Sainz at the Dutch Grand Prix when the backmarker hit him as he tried to lap him while fighting Norris for the lead.

His latest drama came at the Spanish Grand Prix when his front wing was broken after George Russell squeezed him on the opening lap at the Madring.

Piastri spent the entire race with a piece of his front wing flapping around.

“The front wing damage cost Oscar a few units of aero balance,” Stella said. “So definitely very measurable.

“We were actually quite worried that this would have caused a lot of graining because the front end lost a lot of downforce. As a matter of fact, and thankfully, the hard tyres were hard and resistant enough not to open up the graining so Oscar could stay in the race.

“When it comes to Oscar, I think the race was definitely compromised by not only the damage on the car but having lost further positions at the start. So I think even without the damage, it would have been a difficult race to get more out of the situation in which he found himself.”

Piastri finished the race in ninth place, a minute and a half down on race winner Kimi Antonelli, while Norris was third, but only five seconds off the lead.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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