McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has labelled Oscar Piastri’s driving “outstanding” for the outfit in his rookie season.
The rookie scored a confidence-boosting fourth place for the Australian last time out at Silverstone.
The Woking-based outfit took a step forward at the British Grand Prix, having the second fastest car as Lando Norris drove to second place.
Piastri enjoyed a meteoric rise to Formula 1, winning three consecutive championships as an Alpine junior, before being snatched by McLaren last year.
Stella praised the Australian: “Oscar’s performance is just outstanding, if you think he’s a rookie. And right away, even in practice, he was immediately quick.”
The Italian also said that Piastri’s strong pace has pushed Norris to improve on the circuit.
“This allows also some synergies between the drivers because both can see where you can improve from each other. And this elevates the performance of both drivers.
“So, not only we are impressed, but there’s a net benefit in having two competitive drivers because both can benefit.”
The 22-year-old sat on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve driver, after winning the 2021 F2 championship for PREMA.
There were question marks over Piastri’s racecraft after not racing anything last year. He managed to keep George Russell behind at Silverstone and lost a podium finish due to a poorly timed Safety Car for the Australian.
“I think the speed that Oscar is able to deploy we have seen it already. The element that comes out [in Silverstone] is that his race craft,” Stella added.
“His ability to keep gripping the tyres, clean driving in an intense racing situation, thinking about the safety car restart on a hard tyre, it was immediately there.
“This is a mature race craft, which is quite impressive in a guy that is so young.”
McLaren has deployed a radical upgrade package in recent races, with updates in Austria, a new front wing was also introduced at Silverstone but was only raced by Norris.
Piastri will enjoy the benefit of the front wing in Hungary as more updates are set to arrive to the MCL60 in a bid to climb the order.
