McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella says Oscar Piastri’s struggle to extract consistent pace from the MCL40 stems from the need to override his natural driving instincts. After finishing sixth in the Dutch Grand Prix, Piastri’s performance on harder tyre compounds faded despite an early overtake on George Russell. Stella attributes this to the mental workload of adjusting to a car with unusually low grip, a challenge Piastri also faced late in 2025.
Stella emphasized the issue is technical, not psychological, noting Piastri showed competitive lap times during the weekend. He also highlighted team errors, including a slow pit stop that cost Piastri a position, and a second stint on hard tyres that failed to regain grip. The tight margins in modern F1 amplify these setbacks, with suboptimal performance dropping a driver from contention to sixth place.
Looking ahead, Stella remains optimistic, pointing to visible improvements during the race and promising continued work to close the gap. With three teams within a tenth of a second in the championship, every detail matters as McLaren and Piastri aim to refine their approach before the season’s remaining rounds.
