Andrea Stella on the pit wall - Photo: RacePictures

This Piastri trait makes Stella sure he'll bounce back from Baku

09:01, 01 Oct

byLuke-John Buckle

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has no doubts that Oscar Piastri will recover quickly from his uncharacteristic weekend in Azerbaijan.

"One of the strongest features of Oscar is how rapidly he learns."

- Andrea Stella

Stella explained that Piastri has been one of the strongest drivers over the campaign, and even the greatest have lacklustre weekends.

"I'm saying before that these errors that we've seen on Oscar's side, they are definitely uncharacteristic. I think Oscar has been the most solid driver in the 2025 campaign so far.

"And for what I could see, even with multi-champion drivers, sometimes you have a weekend which is all about learning," Stella told GPblog and others.

Andrea Stella points to Lando Norris over P7 result in Baku. Photo Race Pictures

Stella explained that Piastri had a lot of focus on learning in Azerbaijan, and one of the Australians' strongest traits is moving on quickly from difficult races.

"I think Oscar concentrated some learning opportunities in this weekend despite his will and the start I think it's just for an excess of eagerness.

"I'm sure we have seen this now and we won't see this anymore and in terms of the lockup similar to yesterday [qualifying] just misjudged the level of grip available.

"I think one of the strongest features of Oscar is how rapidly he learns how rapidly he improves and now he can come back stronger.

"That's why he's been so successful in every category and i think that's exactly what will happen in his Formula 1 career and we will see it in the reminder of the season."

Piastri suffered a very difficult weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as he made three significant errors before retiring on the opening lap.

The championship leader hit the wall in the final part of qualifying, meaning he could only start in ninth place.

He then jumped the start, causing him to lose places as Piastri recovered before a lock-up at Turn 5 left him with nowhere to go on the first lap.

Piastri admits winning the title is down to how he manages it

Piastri is 25 points ahead of his teammate and title rival Lando Norris with seven rounds to go after the Briton failed to capitalise on Piastri's incident in Baku, finishing seventh.

McLaren have had the quickest car for much of the 2025 season and are particularly good at managing the Pirelli tyres.

This has allowed the McLaren pair to hold first and second in the standings as they battle for their first world title.

Despite having a strong car, Piastri knows he is in control of managing his performance towards the end of the year.

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