Piastri Supports Streamlined Approach
Oscar Piastri has voiced his support for McLaren team principal Andrea Stella’s “streamlined” method in applying the squad’s equal racing principles between him and world champion Lando Norris.
McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri has backed the team’s refined strategy to ensure both he and teammate Lando Norris compete on an even footing, hoping it will help the team avoid “causing some headaches for ourselves that we didn't need.”
Speaking at the 2026 Autosport Awards, Stella reaffirmed the team’s commitment to the equal driver policy, while noting that, after further discussions with the drivers, its implementation would be “streamlined.”
"There are many things in which you can find ways of doing things better,” the Italian told Motorsport.com. “Or, if we can find a way to do the same, but in a simpler way, in a more streamlined way with less work for everyone, then that will be an important improvement for the future.”
Stella did not go into specifics, but there were at least two notable examples from the 2025 season where McLaren arguably complicated matters more than necessary, prompting adjustments afterward.
One instance was at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, when Piastri was asked to let Norris pass following a slow pitstop for the Briton—a decision Piastri strongly disagreed with and admitted lingered in his mind during a difficult weekend in Baku. Another example was reprimanding Norris for making contact with Piastri in Singapore, only to reverse the “repercussions” at the next race when Piastri was penalized more for their sprint race incident in Austin.
Photo by: McLaren
Learning from 2025 Mistakes
In a press conference this week, Piastri described streamlining the team’s racing principles as a “wise decision,” hoping it will remove some of the distractions seen in 2025.
"It will look different. As Andrea said, streamlining it is a wise decision to make," Piastri said regarding the team’s policy. "We probably caused some headaches for ourselves that we didn't need to at points last year. As a general principle and a general kind of way of going racing, it does bring a lot of positives with it, and it's just about: how do we refine that to try and keep it to just positives, basically.
"There was always a lot more made about it than actually happens and a lot of people that kind of think without knowing the complete inner workings, a lot of things appear differently to how they actually are. [There will be] some tweaks for sure this year, but I think it's pretty clear that we still want to go racing as much as a team as we can."
Piastri insisted he had a “fair shot” last year and said time at home in Australia helped him reset and recover from losing out in the 2025 championship fight.
"Yes, I think I got a fair shot last year and I'm expecting that to stay exactly the same," he said. "That's definitely not to say that certain things could have been done better last year. I think that was probably clear for everyone watching. But for me, at no point were there any bad intentions, or any times I questioned the intentions of things."
He added: "It was nice to go back to Australia and spend some time with my family and just take a bit of a step away from F1 and racing. The support I had from being in the fight and the amount of comments I got about the way I go about things, was honestly nice to hear.
"There are a lot of lessons from last year. And yes, the ending was a bit painful, but I think you can treat that in one of two ways, either you can let it bring you down, or give you more confidence and motivation for the future. And I think with such a different rule set as well, that's been a very good avenue to channel any motivation that I gained over the off-season."
