Andrea Stella confirmed that McLaren is ‘dumping’ more engineering resources on Oscar Piastri in Formula 1 in 2026, in a process that simulates the same one used by the team to transform Lando Norris’s 2025 season.
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After the Spanish GP, the manager explained that the Australian’s problems are ‘purely technical’, with the competitor still ‘driving and thinking’, instead of just relying on instinct behind the wheel of the MCL40.
After 14 rounds of the calendar, the difference between the teammates is no less than 120 points, with the current F1 champion in fourth place in the Drivers’ World Championship and two wins this year, while Piastri is only seventh.
Therefore, according to Stella, Oscar’s mental effort costs “a few tenths of a second, because you kind of need to process the situation, instead of purely driving by instinct. We need to execute better and, at the same time, we need better harmony between Oscar and the MCL40, as Oscar is still driving and thinking at the same time,” he said.
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“I don’t think this has anything to do with a psychological issue. It’s purely technical. Therefore, I believe the action plan is very clear about what we need to improve and I hope, as I always say, that we overcome this and see a stronger Oscar in the final part of the season,” he continued.
“As I always say to Oscar: ‘Let’s do this calmly.’ We are dedicating more and more resources to this, just as we did last year with Lando, when he was facing difficulties in the first part of the season. I expect exactly the same results,” he concluded.
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