Stella hopes Piastri managed to "add more tools to his toolbox in these specific low-grip conditions"
Despite a disappointing weekend for Oscar Piastri, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella hopes that the Australian "managed to add more tools to his toolbox in terms of driving the car quickly in these specific low-grip conditions."
Lando Norris dominated qualifying to secure pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix. The McLaren driver then had a great getaway from pole and held the lead through the first corner.
Based on the Friday’s long-run simulation, it was not surprising to see Norris drive off into the distance. Despite managing his tyres, his lead grew and grew from second-places Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren driver finished over 30 seconds ahead of the Ferrari driver, securing his sixth win of the season. In addition to that, he has also taken the lead in the Championship by just one point.
His team-mate Oscar Piastri endured a tough qualifying, and he lost further places at the start. Although he picked off the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda in the opening stages of the race to climb up to ninth, he spent the majority of the first half of the race stuck behind the Mercedes drivers.
He showed a more encouraging performance on Pirelli’s mediums which enabled him to climb back to P5. He even closed in the Haas of Ollie Bearman but got stuck and pitted a second time. On fresh tyres, he just ran out of time to chase down Bearman for the fourth place he desperately needed to hold onto the Championship lead.
Commenting on McLaren's weekend, team boss Andrea Stella said: “A strong weekend in Mexico with a dominant performance and deserved victory by Lando, confirming that we have been able to extract the performance potential within the MCL39.
"This weekend’s performance is important confirmation of our competitiveness and provides the team with strong encouragement for the upcoming races.
“Lando had a fantastic weekend, finding pace in the car right from the start of his running here in Mexico. It was a pleasure to see Lando driving the way he has this weekend, delivering an excellent Pole lap and a commanding victory."
In contrast, Oscar Piastri looked to struggle across the practice sessions, and the Australian only qualified eighth on Saturday. Although he inherited a place on the grid thanks to a five-place grid penalty for Williams driver Carlos Sainz, he lost further places at the start.
“There were also promising signs from Oscar’s side [on Sunday]. He put up a good fight racing in traffic all afternoon and was able to add more tools to his toolbox by adopting some adjustments based on what we learned throughout the weekend, in terms of driving the car quickly in these specific low-grip conditions.
“Thank you to all the team trackside and in Woking, as well as HPP, for the incredible support and hard work throughout the weekend. We will now debrief the double-header as a team and reset before turning our attention to Brazil as we enter the final four races of an exciting season for Formula 1.”
