Piastri ‘panic’ and Stella ‘hype’, McLaren criticised by former F1 driver

Former F1 driver Christijan Albers says Oscar Piastri “panicked” in Baku, Andrea Stella is “hyped” as a team principal, and McLaren’s strategies are “bad”.

Continuing to stick it to the Woking team after a difficult weekend in Baku, Albers added that if Max Verstappen, George Russell or Charles Leclerc were in the MCL39, it would be a “completely different championship”.

McLaren suffered a trying weekend in Baku

McLaren experienced one of its most difficult weekends of the F1 2025 championship in Azerbaijan where Oscar Piastri crashed in qualifying and Lando Norris was only seventh on the grid after he clipped the wall.

It was more of the same in the grand prix with the Briton unable to make up positions after a slow pit stop cost him the overcut on the cars ahead, while Piastri suffered his second crash in 24 hours as he binned it on the opening lap.

Lining up ninth on the grid, the championship leader didn’t even complete the first lap of the 51-lap grand prix as he jumped the start, hit anti-stall, and could only watch as the field passed him by before he got going.

That was mistake number one on the day, and according to Albers, it caused Piastri to panic.

“With Piastri it was really painful,” declared the Viaplay analyst.

“He made a false start and was away too quickly. He then panicked. Then he hit the brakes, and he came into anti-stall. The whole field passed by. That was a painful moment.

“He was not consistent again and was not on top of it. It was really clearly a false start, and that made him panic.”

Trying to make up positions as fast as possible, Piastri tried to challenge Nico Hulkenberg around the outside of Turn 5 but with the Sauber taking a wide line, the Australian driver locked up and went nose-first into the barrier.

His race was over with the DNF ending to his 34-race points-scoring streak.

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“Then you think you’ve had everything,” Albers continued.

“He first had a moment of upset next to Esteban Ocon. He was on the wrong side, on the dirty part. Then came the big mistake.

“He got turbulence behind Nico Hulkenberg’s car. He was all the way on the outside on the dirty line. The car didn’t slow down, and it just ended up in the tyres.”

Albers’ criticism wasn’t aimed solely at Piastri, he also had a few words about the Australian driver’s team principal, Andrea Stella.

Although Stella is potentially leading McLaren to its first championship double since 1998, Albers believes the team boss has been “hyped” up as McLaren should be getting better results with the car it has.

In a season in which McLaren has secured 13 grands prix wins, and seven one-two results, he reckons the team would also be scoring top results more often if they had the likes of Verstappen, Russell or Leclerc in the car.

“That’s also where my irritation lies. They have a hugely dominant car,” said the former F1 driver. “Andrea Stella builds that team around him, but I see the same as with Andreas Seidl, who was also so hyped.

“They have a fantastic car, but in terms of strategy they are bad.”

“And, he continued, “the drivers are not consistent. If you put Max, Russell, or Leclerc in that car, you have a completely different championship.”

Stella became team principal of McLaren ahead of the F1 2023 season and, together with Zak Brown, has presided over its rise up the pecking order in recent seasons.

It’s an effort that builds on the work he put in as racing director under Andreas Seidl prior to the German’s switch to Sauber.

An experienced engineer in his own right, Stella worked with Michael Schumacher at Ferrari before joining McLaren. There’s he’s quickly emerged as a strong leader, though one unwilling to engage in speculation or hypotheticals.

That has fed into a culture somewhat reminiscent of McLaren under Ron Dennis, where it can at times verge on being so sanitised as to be boring. But it’s proven devastatingly effective, with his two drivers occupying the top two places of the Constructors’ Championship and his team the verge of a second consecutive Constructors’ crown.

Should it achieve both titles this year, it would leave the Italian with three championships in as many seasons as team principal.

Piastri heads to Singapore with his lead in the Drivers’ standings down to 25 points over Norris, while Baku race winner Max Verstappen has pulled back 35 points in two races to sit 69 off the pace.

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