McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is convinced Oscar Piastri‘s disastrous Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a one-off, saying all the great drivers — including seven-time champion Michael Schumacher — have had comparable weekends.
Piastri’s run of 34 consecutive points finishes came to an end on Sunday when he crashed into the wall at Turn 5 on the opening lap in Baku.
The mistake followed a crash in qualifying, which left him ninth on the grid, and a false start before the lights went out, which saw his car enter anti-stall mode and fall to the back of the field.
Stella, who worked with Schumacher at Ferrari during his most dominant period in F1, said disappointing weekends were inevitable — even among best drivers in the sport.
“I have worked with multi-champion drivers, and in a season — every season, even the most dominant — even by one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1, like Michael Schumacher, I have seen events like this,” Stella said. “Events in which the most you take away [from the weekend] is the learning, because things become, for some reasons difficult, and as soon as you misjudge the grip available, you get highly punished.
“So, a one-off weekend in which things don’t go his way, and he ultimately had a loss to review. It is no surprise, no exception that we should not be worried about it, because this has happened to pretty much all champions, even the ones with the best track record.”
Damage to Piastri’s title campaign was limited after his teammate and championship rival Lando Norris could only manage seventh place in Sunday’s race, reducing the Australian’s lead in the standings to 25 points.
Stella said Piastri would learn several lessons from the weekend in Azerbaijan that would only make him stronger.
“He comes out with no points and lots of learning,” Stella added. “And I’ve already had a chat with Oscar and his mind is already fully functional, processing, he’s already into thinking, ‘that’s what I’ve learned. I look forward to the next one’.
“And also we said with Oscar that today, even without issues, it’s not like there were many points available, starting in ninth place.”
Stella described Piastri’s false start as an “excess of eagerness” and remains convinced his driver will bounce back at the remaining seven rounds.
“I think one of the strongest features of Oscar is how rapidly he learns, how rapidly he improves and how he can come back stronger,” he said. “That’s why he’s been so successful in every category.
“I think that’s exactly what will happen in his Formula 1 career and we will see it in the remainder of the season.”
