Why is Piastri so good at McLaren? 'You don't see that with everyone'

Oscar Piastri was officially crowned best rookie of the just-ended Formula 1 season in Baku last week. The McLaren Australian had a strong debut season, which included winning the sprint race in Qatar. Praise aplenty in recent months for the only 22-year-old driver, not least from his team boss Andrea Stella.

The Italian is particularly impressed by how quickly Piastri can adapt to a situation and how much he is growing as a driver: "I think the other quality, which, if you want, maybe one of the key enablers, why he can grow so rapidly is just the man beyond the driver. He's so calm. I think he's so good at keeping himself in a status in which he can use the best of his talent. I don't have that quality," Stella told media - including GPblog.

'For Piastri it's very natural'

"I have to think very actively about, what am I thinking? What are my emotions? I have to think about my psychology to actively keep myself in the most productive state. For Oscar, this seems to come quite naturally. That’s the main enabler. I think he potentially has a natural gift, or maybe he worked throughout his young career through that. I don't know."

Piastri has been seen as a top talent since his days in the step-up classes. Stella agrees: "But certainly, he's remarkable. And even when I've seen great drivers currently or in the past, all of them sort of sometimes underperformed because they don't stay in the status in which they give their best. I think for Oscar, this is quite natural."