The Formula 1 world is abuzz with excitement as Oscar Piastri’s meteoric rise to becoming a 2025 title contender has left fans and experts alike in awe. McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, has shed light on the Australian driver’s incredible evolution, attributing his success to a newfound prowess in managing his tires throughout the races.
Critics had previously pointed out Piastri’s struggle to keep up with his teammate, Lando Norris, citing his aggressive driving style as a factor that wore out his Pirelli tires quickly. However, this season has seen a remarkable shift in Piastri’s performance, with him often matching Norris’s pace and even outshining the seasoned driver on occasions. Stella commended Piastri for his mastery of tire degradation, emphasizing that the improvement was not solely due to the car’s performance but rather the result of intensive work and collaboration between the engineers and the driver.
The Miami Grand Prix showcased Piastri’s growth, with Norris also demonstrating significant progress in tire management. Despite Norris’s late charge on hard tires towards the end of the race, Piastri’s resilience and strategic driving secured him the victory. Stella hinted at an impending rivalry between the two McLaren drivers, predicting thrilling battles in the races to come.
As Piastri continues to impress with his newfound skills and determination, the F1 community eagerly anticipates the unfolding drama and competition on the track. Stay tuned for more exhilarating updates as the young Australian driver carves his path to potential glory in the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Oscar Piastri is leading the championship in the 2025 season, becoming the first Australian driver to lead the championship after 15 years. Piastri, who is Mark Webber’s protege, has been developing his skills in a terrifying manner. His results have already put him on par with some of the other drivers on the grid. Piastri already has more wins than his own teammate, Lando Norris.
Yet, it is easy to forget that this is only his third season in Formula 1 Racing. When he first became a part of the grid, he was in deep trouble due to contract violations with Alpine. However, McLaren took Piastri under their wing and completely reformed his career. Oscar Piastri has been proving himself since the start of his F1 career. In his debut season, he became the second best Formula 1 rookie ever, scoring points and podiums to help McLaren get over their initial disappointments.
In his second season, Oscar Piastri utilized the upgrades to his advantage and won the first two races of his career. He made a big contribution to McLaren’s world championship title alongside his teammate. Come 2025, Oscar Piastri has become a completely different beast. His race craft impressed Max Verstappen while racing alongside him. Ironically, Piastri’s first race in 2025 did not resemble his current form. He made a slight error and lost out on podium finish in his home race. Piastri did not step back and lament his loss however. He came to China with a motive and that was to return to the top.
Piastri won in China and immediately put forth his name as one of the championship favorite drivers. Oscar Piastri has been nearly perfect since then. In the races which followed, he was always managing the best out of his car and competing and overtaking other drivers without making a fuss. In Jeddah, Piastri’s better reaction time got him ahead of Max Verstappen. His clash with the Dutchman landed Max Verstappen with a penalty which gave Piastri his win in Jeddah. In Miami, things were much different, this time, Oscar did not rely on the stewards or any external factors.
The way he was racing against Max made Verstappen commit an error lose out to Piastri. Later on, Piastri strategy was utilized by his teammate who did the same to Verstappen and clinched away his podium. The biggest benefit that Piastri brings to the team is his no nonsense attitude. Piastri’s nickname is the “Iceman.” He might not be comparable to the Ferrari champion yet but he has the traits. Oscar Piastri seldom lashes out on the radio. He is hardly involved in any crashes. Piastri does not even try to rile up the media with controversial opinions. He is there to race and whatever he does on track completely stays out his business outside the track.
Piastri is not a stoic individual. He loves having fun and his laugh is contagious. However, he has the emotional clarity and the grit in his head to become the perfect Formula 1 champion. Oscar Piastri’s driving style is always reminiscent of the fact that he is there to win. Piastri does not get overjoyed at a victory, he starts preparing for the next time. These characteristics make him a dangerous driver and a possible champion killer.
Oscar Piastri has demonstrated improved tyre management sensibilities so far over 2025's Formula 1 season, which McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says is testament to the Australian's work with the team's engineers. One of the criticisms levelled at Piastri in his first two F1 seasons, with regards to his gap to Lando Norris, was that his style appeared to take more life out of the Pirelli tyres – and thus would start to decline over the course of a stint.
However, Piastri has shown a much stronger approach to this over 2025; over a stint, he has been often level on pace with Norris, sometimes even transcending the lap times of his more experienced team-mate. Stella believes that Piastri, now in his third season, is starting to "master" the requirements of the tyre during a race. Although it could be assumed that the light touch that this year's McLaren has applied on the tyres has helped Piastri, the Italian does not believe this is the whole picture.
Instead, Stella explained the mechanisms at play, and the work that the championship leader has done to build up his skills in that area. "Looking at the way Oscar is mastering and managing tyre degradation at the moment, no way that this improvement would come simply from the car," he said. "The only way to exploit the improvements we have made with the car – they take place only when the driver somehow understands what to do with the tyres and with the car."
This has happened not by chance, or not because Oscar is getting a little older; this is because there's been a lot of work done by the engineers in terms of understanding the driving style, how you damage the tyres, how you can prevent damaging the tyres. This is very different from when you have graining, when you have graining at the front, graining at the rear, overheating of the front, overheating at the rear, it's not like you improve the way you master the tyres in a way that is good for all seasons, there's many ways in which you need to be able to do so.
As Piastri continues to impress with his newfound skills and determination, the F1 community eagerly anticipates the unfolding drama and competition on the track. Stay tuned for more exhilarating updates as the young Australian driver carves his path to potential glory in the 2025 Formula 1 season.
