– According to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, there is a very specific reason why Oscar Piastri is on average a tenth of a second slower than Lando Norris in qualifying. The 25-year-old’s driving style is likely crucial to his current problems.
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“Drivers talk about this generation of cars requiring a specific driving style,” Stella said after qualifying in Belgium on Sky Sport F1. In Q3, Piastri was more than two tenths of a second behind 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 slides. You have to be extremely active there.”
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“And this driving style,” the team principal described, “is more intuitive for Lando than for Oscar. We are working with Oscar to ensure that he incorporates these characteristics into his natural driving style. We have also seen this between other teammates, such as Antonelli and Russell, and sometimes between Hamilton and Leclerc.”
Russell, in particular, has at times complained about the slippery behavior of the 2026 Formula 1 car. While the Mercedes driver faces many question marks after the Belgian Grand Prix, Leclerc was able to solve the puzzle surrounding his driving style before the race in Great Britain.
Consequently, the Monegasque managed to win his first Grand Prix of the season at Silverstone. According to his own statement, Leclerc tried to find a way to better adapt the SF-26 to his natural driving style. In Spa, he confirmed this form with a second place.
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“That’s exactly what we need to figure out, and then Oscar will be able to unleash his full talent,” Stella said in conversation with Peter Hardenacke and Timo Glock. In the direct qualifying duel between the two McLaren drivers, the score after the Belgian Grand Prix is 10 to 4 in favor of the reigning world champion.
Piastri’s statements after qualifying fit this. “It’s just very difficult and very, very tough to drive this car,” he said. “If you can balance the car on the limit, then there seems to be more lap time there, but [exactly that] is really tough.”
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When asked what the McLaren driver lacks to be able to push the car to the limit, his answer is: “[It lacks] a bit of everything, depending on how exactly you position [the car] and how the wind is blowing, or what kind of corner you are currently in.”
“It’s not a single, clear problem. If you struggle a bit with everything, it’s probably because of what’s possible with the car. Getting more out of [the car] is… You just need more downforce.”
“But,” Piastri said, “in recent weekends, the car has been a challenge, especially on the rear axle. Today it was quite windy, and in Silverstone it was also extremely windy. So I don’t know if that made [the car] even more challenging, but it certainly didn’t make it easier.”
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