April 21, 2024, Shanghai circuit. The Chinese Grand Prix finished a few hours ago, and Andrea Stella is in one of the “stilt” hospitality rooms of the Chinese paddock with Oscar Piastri. The race confirmed Lando Norris in second place, while Oscar Piastri finished eighth, more than forty seconds behind his teammate. “I remember scratching my head and telling Oscar that there was a lot to learn from that race,” Andrea Stella recalled, “and today I can say that all the work we’ve done together has been capitalized in the best possible way.”
Oscar Piastri’s first victory of the season was significant. Pole, a perfect start, and leadership that was never in question until the checkered flag. In a weekend (also thanks to the second-place finish in the sprint race) Oscar made up for the lost ground in the general classification after the disastrous outcome of the Melbourne weekend. The season is still long, but there is one aspect of Oscar Piastri’s performance that worries Norris and other competitors: Oscar is immune to stress, and the growth he’s undergone over the winter (with a checklist of tasks created with the team) is making him a real title contender.
Andrea Stella enjoys seeing Oscar Piastri’s growth as a success of the team’s work. “Obviously, we’ve seen his overall speed, but it’s not just that. During the race, he asked the right questions at the right moments, which shows his ability to manage a race. There was a lot of work during the winter, a long list of races we reviewed together, pointing out what needed to be done in certain situations, how to better exploit certain circumstances. Twelve months ago here in China, we were in a completely different situation.”
McLaren celebrates its first one-two of the season. The ten seconds Oscar Piastri gained on a strong George Russell don’t fully reflect the current potential of the MCL39 over its rivals. Once in the lead, the two “papaya” cars ran at a fast pace but without pushing the tire management to the limits. In the final fifteen laps, Norris started experiencing a brake pedal issue, a problem that could have cost him the second-place finish.
“The braking kept getting longer,” explained Stella, “we told Lando to avoid peak pressure, to modulate the pedal pressure as much as possible. He did a great job managing a difficult situation.” Norris’ plan for the second stint was to gently introduce the tires (as he did) to make a final push to challenge Piastri, but the technical issue ended his ambitions. “Lando and Oscar were free to race, they know what to do and what the conditions are, they don’t need to compromise the team result.”
However, the Shanghai weekend didn’t start well for McLaren. The baseline setup wasn’t perfect, and during the sprint race, Piastri suffered from excessive front tire wear. “After the sprint, we made some setup adjustments,” admitted Stella, “but we also worked a lot with both drivers to adapt their driving styles. Oscar had less graining than Lando, so Lando had to take some pointers from Oscar by analyzing his data. And Oscar also took some advice from Lando. This is the importance of having two high-level drivers on the team; the information each can take from the other is valuable, and if you do a good job merging the strengths, the whole team benefits. This is what I saw in Australia and here in Shanghai.”
The story of last season (where McLaren’s role was to chase Red Bull) teaches and calls for caution. The competitive landscape can change, even over a short period. However, the message from the Chinese weekend was very strong. Today, it’s impossible to see any weaknesses within the “papaya” group, and it’s hard to imagine opponents who could challenge a team that, over time, seems to be growing stronger and more solid.
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