Oscar Piastri’s rookie season in Formula 1 has been consistently impressive to those on the outside, but McLaren team principal Andrea Stella sees similarities with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in certain areas that points to an even brighter future.
McLaren signed Piastri from Alpine in the middle of last season and had to go through a legal process to prove it had the contractual right to the highly rated Australian. A little over a year later after his arrival was confirmed, Piastri now has a fresh contract that runs through to the end of 2026, securing his long-term future after just 15 races.
For Stella, the success of Piastri is not unexpected given the amount of research into his abilities and potential McLaren committed to. The McLaren team boss offered high praise of some of the 22-year-old’s attributes that he likened to multiple world champions he has worked with.
“Obviously when McLaren so strongly wanted to sign Oscar, we looked at the results in the junior categories,” Stella said. “But what happened in the early days of the collaboration with Oscar is we could see that what he achieved in the junior categories had good reasons for that to happen.
“We could see this in the natural speed, which is related to the talent to some extent. We even saw it in the first day of the simulator in the way he was assessing his own performance, saying, ‘This is where I am. This is where I need to improve.’ It was matching so well with what we could see from the data. That was quite impressive.
“That’s where I thought, ‘It’s just a gift’ to some extent. His self-awareness in relation to speed, in relation to how to go and grab this speed opportunity — this became apparent at the tests and then race by race.
“Then we saw the qualities at the attitudinal level, and these qualities have to do with being able to continuously improve. You may be as talented as I’m saying, but I’m sure there are a lot of people that were talented but it didn’t lead anywhere because there was no attitude to continuous improvements.
“I think we have really good examples now on the grid of drivers that can keep being extremely competitive because of continuous improvements. I think this one is a similarity with Fernando (Alonso).
“Then we have the person behind the driver. For us it was important to make sure that the person that we keep on board is a person that not only fits our culture but will contribute to establishing the culture even more and potentially adding to the culture — adding to the values and the behaviors that make us become a team of mates.
“And in this sense Oscar, I have to say, from just a personal point of view, if he wasn’t a Formula 1 driver, I would appreciate him as a person. The values he brings into the sport and the values he brings into the collaboration with the team in this sense makes me think about Michael (Schumacher).
“Somebody who worked with Michael here in the paddock — he is at another team — said to me he was so capable of building families. He was definitely tough on track, but within the team, the spirit, the sense of unity was like a family.
“So I think I’m referring to natural talent, attitude culture and values. These three things became apparent to us relatively soon, and that’s why the conversations started soon.”
Those conversations were not about a simple contract extension, Stella says, but a new deal that reflects the faith McLaren has in Piastri as a future championship contender.
“It is a new contract because it became very apparent for us that we wanted to secure this prospect and we wanted to realize the full extent of the collaboration,” Stella emphasized. “It came at the point in which it was very apparent for us that Oscar is the right driver for McLaren, because of many, many reasons. I would like to say that this has been clear to us very early.
“The announcement comes now but actually the agreement was found pretty early on because what we needed to assess became clear and apparent to us very soon. I’m happy to say that the same was on Oscar’s side. It was a recognized by both parties that this is the collaboration that should lead both parties — from a team point of view and from a driver point of view — into the future.”
It’s not just from a driving point of view that Piastri has impressed McLaren either, with his approach and demeanor proving the perfect fit and helping create an atmosphere that Stella says is important to allow the team to perform at its best.
“There’s one attribute of his personality that we all appreciate and that when you are in a pressurized environment like Formula 1 becomes very important: he is a calm, considerate person,” Stella noted. “He doesn’t have nervous reactions. He doesn’t have unnecessary irritation. He doesn’t have tension in his comments.
“His comments are a genuine report of what happens with the car or of what happens in a situation that wasn’t ideal — you know you can trust what he’s saying. He’s not speculatively adding anything because he needs to promote himself. He’s trustworthy and calm.
“To be honest, calmness is a quality I generally try to strengthen as much as possible throughout the team because otherwise you can become — like I say, there are already enough reasons to be tense for the competition itself. Nobody should create additional (tension) just through behaviors or the way you speak to your colleagues or the way you report things.
“So he is calm. He is very considerate with his words. He is very considered with the way he presents himself and he’s somebody you know you can trust.”
Stella (middle) says Piastri’s natural acceptance of the role of team player alongside teammate Lando Norris is as valuable to McLaren as his speed. Steven Tee/Motorsport Images
Stella cites Piastri’s ready acceptance of McLaren’s decision to try out upgrades on Lando Norris’s car first as another example of the Australian being able to put the team’s long-term prospects ahead of his own short-term ones
“Twice this year we had a situation where we needed to make a call: who do we give the new upgrades? Both times they went to Lando because we thought that’s the best thing for the team, which is the only perspective to decisions that we adopt in our team,” Stella said. “Like in Singapore, for instance — new track for Oscar, very tricky track. Do you really want to give him the concern in free practice one? It could be wet, and this decision needed to be made weeks before because we needed to change the chassis at the factory. But let’s leave Oscar alone. He builds up through the weekend, and he managed from 17 to finish seventh thanks to that.
“In both times the conversations with Oscar were calm, rational and constructive where it was easy for me to say, ‘I’m talking in the name of the team’ and it was easy for him to understand that. Even if as a driver you always want to have the highest potential package, it definitely prevailed in his rational team-player approach to this conversation.
“At no point during the Singapore weekend did we have any annoyance, any comment like, ‘I’m a little slower here but obviously the other one has the new parts.’ Not even indirectly. And this means that everyone listening, everyone looking at the person, gets (shown) something by example.
“That’s the fit with the culture. Leaders — and drivers are definitely leaders in a Formula 1 team — lead by example, and Oscar you can trust is going to do it even when he is at a disadvantage.”
