Piastri Qatar Pace: McLaren F1’s Recovery Explained

McLaren Formula 1 team manager Andrea Stella says Oscar Piastri‘s return to form in Qatar fits into his theory of the Australian’s high grip.

Piastri struggled with pace compared to teammate Lando Norris at low-grip circuits such as Austin and Mexico, and also saw Norris overtake him in Brazil and Las Vegas. But the Australian returned to his best this weekend in Qatar, scoring a clean sweep in the sprint qualifying, sprint race and pole position for grand prix qualifying, his first since Zandvoort at the end of August.

Pole for the grand prix could well have gone to Norris, who felt he still had a few tenths in reserve but made a mistake at the start of his last lap launched in Q3. But there is no doubt that Piastri is back at full strength, and according to his team manager it is no coincidence that the Australian’s resurgence comes on the high-downforce Losail circuit, the antonym of Austin and Mexico in terms of the grip of the available surface.

“Even when we were commenting that Oscar was having some difficulties, I have always emphasized that there are technical aspects in the way the drivers take advantage of the available grip and the potential of the car,” Stella explained.

“And here in Qatar we return to the high-grip circuit category. And in the high-grip circuit category, I think Oscar is in his most natural way of driving the car, and he can really maximize the potential available.

“On circuits like Mexico, Austin, especially in terms of braking and car rotation, you need to slide the rear axle. It’s almost a different technique from driving a Formula 1 car, and it’s a technique that Oscar is developing, but it’s actually in the category that Lando excels at.”

Stella does not believe that Piastri’s fall had a mental component in losing control of the drivers’ championship to Norris.

“I don’t think it has much to do with the mentality, the approach,” he argued. “Oscar has been very solid from a mental point of view at all times, this is just a technical matter. We are talking about professional sport at the highest level, and at this level, when you give up 1% from a technical point of view, then you can lose some positions because the competition is very strong.”

If there is one surprise that Doha has thrown up, it is not the fact that McLaren has the fastest car, as expected, but exactly how it has generated that advantage over Red Bull and Mercedes.

McLaren’s usual hunting ground is the types of long, medium-speed corners that Red Bull tends to struggle in, with Max Verstappen’s RB21 more comfortable in high-speed areas with sudden changes of direction.

That was not exactly the case in Qatar, with a McLaren particularly fast in the final sector, extremely fast, while Red Bull – and especially Mercedes – seemed capable of going wheel to wheel with their MCL39 in the second medium speed sector and in the first two corners.

“We were hoping this circuit would suit our car’s strengths, but the way we are fast is not exactly what we would have anticipated,” Stella said. “We are gaining a lot of lap time in Turns 4 and 5, and then in the high-speed section, especially in the last sector you see that we are always in purple (record time). But actually, I expected to be fast in the medium-speed corners like Turn 1, the last corner or the middle sector.

“I think this also depends on the way you set up the car or the way you’ve developed the car. We’ve definitely done some work to improve high speed. And at the same time, I think what we could have seen is that Red Bull could have gone almost in the opposite direction in terms of possibly compromising some of the strengths at high speed to gain more potential at low speed.

“Actually, the best car in the medium speed corners here in Qatar is Mercedes. The reality is that everything is very, very tight. I think it is a fair representation of the fact that the regulations are very mature and now everyone is converging.”

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– The Motorsport.com team