How Oscar Piastri improved over F1’s Mexico GP weekend

Erstwhile F1 championship leader Piastri had a disappointing weekend in Mexico, but it could have been much worse for the McLaren driver after his poor qualifying result

A post-qualifying meeting can be credited for Oscar Piastri’s performance turnaround in the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix weekend, revealed McLaren team boss Andrea Stella.

The 24-year-old finished fifth at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez after a very disappointing qualifying session where he came eighth, but started seventh due to Carlos Sainz’s grid penalty.

That is compared to McLaren team-mate Lando Norris who dominated from pole, meaning he has snatched the championship lead from Piastri by one point with four rounds remaining in the 2025 campaign.

It is understood that the high-altitude, low-grip nature of the Mexico track didn’t suit Piastri’s driving style, as it meant the MCL39 often slid through the corners.

Piastri faced a similar situation the weekend before in Austin, where he was again off the pace finishing fifth - but Stella said a debrief in Mexico at the end of Saturday helped to overcome some of the issues.

“After qualifying, we reviewed with Oscar extensively from a data, comment, video point of view,” said Stella.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

“We extracted some important information in terms of how the car needs to be driven in these special low-grip conditions that we are facing here in Mexico, to some extent, similar to Austin.

“It looks like in this regime, you have to drive the car in a way that adapts to the fact that the car slides a lot and can slide and produce lap time.

“This is not necessarily the way in which Oscar feels naturally that he is producing lap time. So, we identified a few things that we could do with the car and a few things that he could do with the driving.

“Oscar should be very proud of himself of how he has handled the transition from yesterday to today.”

Stella even thinks Piastri could have finished higher up on Sunday, had it not been for the midfield traffic as he dropped to 10th during a very messy lap one.

He then recovered positions through a two-stop strategy, but Piastri still often found himself in traffic while a late virtual safety car prevented his bid to take fourth from Oliver Bearman.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Regardless, Stella was happy with the race Piastri executed and he could see the vast improvements he had made thanks to the qualifying debrief.

“We could see in the race that he was applying this,” added Stella. “He definitely had a more competitive pace than yesterday.

“It's a bit of a shame that he was not in condition to fully use this pace because we could not find the way to just get him out of traffic.

“He spent the entire race looking at the gearbox of the car ahead. But it's important for Oscar that we go through this kind of experience in which we learn new tools to add to the toolbox because that's how you become the most complete version of a Formula 1 driver.

“This is also important for the next four races in which we're going to find, again, different conditions. So, we need to be ready for all of them. But I think Oscar should be very proud and happy with his race today.”

Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi will round up the season and the two Middle Eastern rounds are known for their hot, intense conditions compared to the cold of the Vegas night race.