McLaren claims Oscar Piastri has a ‘very strong’ future amidst rapid improvement since F1 debut

Andrea Stella highlighted that F1 drivers need to adapt to conditions in such a manner that they prevent a problem even before it could surface. The Italian claimed that drivers needed to know how a particular context could cause an issue further down the line.

When I talk about adapting, this is not adapting to when a problem starts. This is adapting to prevent the problem to start, You sort of have to understand from the context that, ‘Oh, this context would lead to this problem' before the problem actually manifests itself. Andrea Stella explained

The McLaren team boss reckoned that Oscar Piastri had succeeded in understanding this area. The Australian driver was now more aware about how some conditions could lead to issues compared to his rookie season at the Woking-based team.

So, I think that's the mechanism where he is now much more aware that some conditions will lead to some problems. Andrea Stella stated

Andrea Stella highlights Oscar Piastri’s tire management at the Australian GP

The Australian GP was a difficult race in terms of tire degradation. Andrea Stella mentioned that Oscar Piastri potentially understood the feeling of the front tires during the race. The 53-year-old claimed that Piastri managed his tires in the ideal manner to prevent graining.

So, when he was driving the tires around, I think he was feeling that if you overdo the front tyre a little bit then the tires are not going to be happy from a graining point of view. Andrea Stella noted

Moreover, the McLaren team boss emphasized that drivers needed to be clear about the limit of the tires in such cases. Stella reckoned that this could be as small as just one kmph quicker. As such, the Italian claimed that this sort of fine tuning only came with experience in Formula 1.

So, you start to understand where is the limit potentially, even going one kph [faster]. It's a fine tuning, almost like a self-calibration exercise through experience. Andrea Stella concluded

Oscar Piastri has solidified himself as one of the most exciting talents on the current grid. The Australian driver even bagged a long-term contract with McLaren last year. As such, the 22-year-old would be looking to further cement his place at the Woking-based squad and achieve strong results. Subsequently, fans would be eager to see Piastri’s performance in the upcoming races.