Andrea Stella hails Oscar Piastri’s progress after Spanish double

A solid race for Oscar Piastri

Oscar Piastri made an excellent start from pole position to maintain the lead, while Lando Norris initially lost second place to Max Verstappen, before reclaiming it a bit later. The Red Bull driver had opted for a three-stop strategy, which left doubts about his ability to challenge McLaren at the end of the race with fresher tires.

However, the race turned in the last third with the intervention of the safety car, leading the majority of the field to pit. But Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, fitted with hard tires while most other drivers were on softs, saw its chances collapse. Meanwhile, the Australian claimed his fifth victory of the season, crossing the finish line with a 2.471-second lead over his teammate.

Even if the race may have seemed smooth from the outside, Andrea Stella explained the challenges encountered. During the second stint, we were pushing while controlling the pace, but [Verstappen] was coming back very quickly, faster than we expected. At one point, we even asked our drivers, ‘Should we push a bit more,’ and both replied, ‘I’m not sure I have much more pace.’ So at that moment, we were a bit worried that the situation was more open than we thought after the first stint.

« It was also a bit complicated because Oscar and Lando were separated by about 2.5 seconds. If we had to cover against Verstappen, it could have been a problem. But fortunately, Verstappen started to lose a bit of pace. Oscar found a lot of pace at the end of the second stint, which allowed us to manage the pit stop sequence in a controlled manner. So, kudos to the drivers, but also to our tire engineers. Overall, it was a great execution of the race. »

The two-stop strategy pays off

When asked if he still thought that the two-stop strategy was the fastest, despite what Verstappen had shown with his three-stop strategy, the McLaren boss confirmed: « I think a two-stop strategy is faster. But it carries certain risks because against a very fast three-stop strategy, you are forced to push on long stints, and sometimes it’s a bit unpredictable to know how much your tires will degrade. »

« If you look at the lap times at the start of each stint, we were very cautious not to attack too much at the start, because if you push too early, you’ll have degradation at the end.

This is what happened to Verstappen, I believe, during his second or third stint: he pushed hard but then he fell back.

« It’s like a limited budget: you have to decide where to use it. But with two stops, if your tires degrade, you’re forced to stay on track—and it’s brutal when that happens. So yes, two stops are faster, but with a certain level of risk », he explains.

Andrea Stella took the opportunity to highlight the progress made by the Australian since last year.

« Yes, you use your tires more when following another car because the aero is reduced. So you compensate with the tires for what you lose in downforce, which can easily represent a loss of five-tenths. So yes, more consumption for Lando in the first stint. »

« But overall, I must say that the two drivers were, in a way, surprisingly close in pace throughout the race. Oscar did a really impressive job, especially knowing that last year, this race was one of the most difficult for him. He has made tremendous progress in 12 months », he concludes.