Andrea Stella praises “very tough” Oscar Piastri: He…

Oscar Piastri’s Formula 1 season got off to a rough start in Melbourne, where he crashed his McLaren before the race had even begun – but team boss Andrea Stella believes the Aussie will bounce back from the upset.

Piastri was undertaking his reconnaissance laps around 40 minutes before the start of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park when he crashed his MCL40. The contact with the wall critically damaged the front of his car and he was forced to sit out his home race.

"Very unfortunate,” said Stella. “Definitely a tough moment for him in front of the Australian crowd.”

Despite the crash coming in a year where Piastri is looking to reset his fortunes after missing out on the drivers’ title to team-mate Lando Norris in 2025, Stella believes that the Australian has what it takes to bounce back from the poor start to his season.

“Oscar, let me spend a word from this point of view,” Stella said. “Very tough guy mentally. He will use all this to get even more concentrated and determined starting from China.

“We will make sure that we all face this in a united way. We are a team in any situation that may involve any of our team.”

As for the cause of Piastri’s crash, Stella said it was “fundamentally three factors”. Firstly, the colder tyres that Piastri was running had less grip then they would when up to temperature, and the lack of grip was compounded by him running over the kerb.

Car of Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Additionally, the behaviour of F1’s new power units with a near-50:50 reliance on electric and internal combustion power also takes some mastery. Extra torque after a shift could have sparked the wheelspin that led to Piastri’s crash, which was in line with the 24-year-old's comments after the incident where he claimed to have “about 100kW extra power that I didn't expect".

The result was a dejected young Australian who missed the start of his home grand prix, just 12 months after struggling through a tumultuous Melbourne race that saw him miss out on a podium in the rain.

“I think last year, whilst the result wasn't what I wanted, I felt like there was a lot of positives from the weekend,” said Piastri. “I think this year, obviously, the disappointment is even greater. But I think up until today, we did a lot of things well.

“I think we clearly identified some things we need to change and do a better job at. But I think through practise and qualifying, I felt pretty comfortable, as comfortable as you can do in these cars. And, yeah, I felt like I was building myself into it nicely, which that element is not too dissimilar to 12 months ago.

“So, I'll just try and take the learnings and come back next week.”

Piastri will have another chance to prove he can turn his frown upside down next week, when F1 descends on Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix and the first sprint event of the year.