“No way” Oscar Piastri’s step up in 2025 is “simply the car”

Despite only being in his third season in Formula 1, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is proving to be something of a revelation. The Australian progressed from rookie to team player, to legitimate championship leader and McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes this transformation can't all be attributed to its dominant new car.

Piastri entered F1 with something of a cloud over his head. He replaced fan-favourite Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren, and his appointment at the team almost ended up in court while two outfits fought over his talents. It left many questioning if he could possibly live up to the hype.

More than 50 race starts later, those questions have been answered, and the McLaren driver is sitting 16 points clear of his championship rival and team-mate Lando Norris at the top of the Formula 1 standings.

Of course, compared with previous seasons when Piastri played second fiddle to team-mate Norris, the McLaren team made an impressive step forward this year. Instead of scrapping to make the top five as it did early last year, McLaren is proving to be a dominant force so far in 2025.

However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says that Piastri’s jump to the front of the pack cannot be wholly attributed to the new MCL39.

“Looking at the way Oscar is mastering and managing tyre degradation at the moment, no way that this improvement would come simply from the car,” Stella said following Piastri’s victory at the Miami Grand Prix.

Piastri previously struggled with tyre management in his races, but Stella now believes this is a major area that the Aussie improved on to increase his race craft.

“The only way to exploit the improvements we have made with the car, they take place only when the driver somehow understands what to do with the car,” Stella said.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Andrea Stella, McLaren

Photo by: Fadel Senna - AFP - Getty Images

“This happened not by chance or not because Oscar is getting a little older.

“This is because there's been a lot of work done by the engineers in terms of understanding the driving style, how you damage the tyres, how you can prevent damaging the tyres.

“And like I say, I think this is a testament to the quality of the work done by Oscar and the team around him.”

The McLaren has been easy on its tyres all through the 2025 season, with both Piastri and Norris managing to get more life out of their Pirelli rubber compared with their rivals – leading some to speculate that it could be using water to keep its tyres cooler.

That’s not to take away from the step Piastri made in managing his Pirelli compounds, though, as Stella says this has already helped improve his results this season. In Miami, he noted that the Aussie was able to hold onto his hard tyres better in the final stint, while team-mate Lando Norris was left fighting Max Verstappen and taking life out of his Pirelli rubber.

The result was that Piastri cemented his lead at the front and Norris was unable to catch in the closing stages of the race.

“For Lando there was just too much time lost in the two situations with Verstappen to have what could have been an interesting situation between our two drivers,” Stella added.

“But I'm sure it will come in future races.”

In terms of other differences between his two drivers, Stella dismissed suggestions that Piastri was better at overtaking his rivals on track than Norris, despite the Australian passing Verstappen on the first time of asking and the British driver taking a few attempts at the move.

“I don't think we should over read too much into situations,” Stella said.

"I think in terms of overtaking manoeuvre and precision and determination I don't see that there's any difference between our two drivers.”