Stella: Piastri is more confident in his abilities

Oscar Piastri is no longer a newcomer to Formula 1, he already has the experience of his first full season in the world championship, and summarizing the results of the pre-season tests in Bahrain, the Australian McLaren driver noted that he now has completely different feelings than 12 months ago.

“I think everything is calmer now,” Speedcafe quotes Oscar. – There are differences even in the simplest things. I already know everyone in the team, I feel familiar and comfortable in the cockpit of the car. There are always many nuances, but I am only talking about some basic points that make the sensations more comfortable and natural…

I no longer have to start learning how to drive a new car, learn how to work with tires, delve into new rules – in this regard, everything is now stable for me and I can immediately focus on more specific aspects related to the pilots. Thanks to last year’s experience, I know what I want to work on. For all these reasons, pre-season testing has now been very different.”

McLaren team leader Andrea Stella spoke about the extent to which Piastri’s way of working has changed.

“Certainly, compared to last year, we now saw in Bahrain that he has noticeably increased confidence in his capabilities,” Stella emphasized. “He feels the limits of the car, the limits of its capabilities, because sometimes a beginner has to try many different approaches to driving because he is not sure if he is driving correctly.

At the same time, the beginner wonders: “Should I drive differently, or should the car behave differently on the track?” I think Oscar now understands everything much better, adapts much faster, reacts much better. Already on the first day of testing, as he completed lap after lap, it was clear that he had clearly improved in terms of efficiency behind the wheel. These are the main changes I noticed.”