Piastri as Schumacher: Mistakes in F1, according to McLaren’s Stella

Andrea Stella backs Oscar Piastri after a complicated weekend in Azerbaijan

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has expressed his confidence that the disastrous Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Oscar Piastri was an isolated incident. Stella, who has worked with renowned drivers, including Michael Schumacher, understands that these setbacks are common even for the best. Piastri’s streak of 34 consecutive races scoring points came to an end on Sunday, when he crashed into the wall at Turn 5 on the first lap in Baku. This error occurred after an accident in qualifying, which left him ninth on the grid, and a false start before the lights went out, causing his car to go into anti-lock mode and fall to the back of the grid.

I have worked with multi-champion drivers, and in a season, even the most dominant one, even by one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1, like Michael Schumacher, I have seen events like this.

Andrea Stella

Stella, who worked with Schumacher at Ferrari during his most dominant period in F1, pointed out that disappointing weekends are inevitable, even for the best drivers. Stella added that Piastri will learn several lessons from the weekend in Azerbaijan that will only make him stronger.

Piastri’s campaign damage was limited after his teammate and championship rival, Lando Norris, could only manage seventh place in Sunday’s race. Stella described Piastri’s false start as an “excess of enthusiasm” and is convinced that his driver will recover in the remaining seven rounds. Stella concluded that one of Piastri’s greatest strengths is his ability to learn and improve rapidly.