Andrea Stella reveals what McLaren ‘need to do’ with Oscar Piastri after tough United States GP

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Oscar Piastri had a difficult race at the United States Grand Prix and lost yet more ground in the 2025 F1 title battle.

The McLaren driver drove a race of his own in Texas, and didn’t have to battle any of his rivals en route to fifth place. His lead in the drivers’ championship has shrunk to just 14 points over teammate Lando Norris, who appears to have all the momentum.

Piastri hasn’t won in five races, and his team’s car advantage appears to have dwindled. Red Bull are at least equal on pace, and Max Verstappen’s hunt for a fifth consecutive world title is going to be gripping for the fans. For McLaren, it might be a nightmare.

Piastri looked ‘lairy’ at the United States Grand Prix, according to Damon Hill, who believes that he isn’t realising his full potential. Piastri was ‘more frustrated’ than Norris after their collision in Saturday’s sprint race, which took them both out on lap one. It was a significant shift in the title picture.

READ MORE: Damon Hill highlights the ‘irony’ of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris crashing at the US Grand Prix

McLaren ‘need to’ extract more pace from Oscar Piastri’s car after the United States Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc thinks Piastri will win the 2025 Formula 1 title due to the advantage he built for himself during the earlier portion of the season. At one stage, his advantage over Verstappen was 104 points. Now, it’s just 40.

Piastri’s superpower caught McLaren out this year. He has been quick to solve his own issues and crack on with making sure that he extracts the most he can out of his car every weekend.

In Austin, it’s an area that team boss Andrea Stella believes the team didn’t do well enough, and suggests that they ‘need to do’ better with at the upcoming race in Mexico.

“Something to review on Oscar’s side,” he said on Sky Sports F1. “The pace wasn’t great today, but I’m sure it will come back strong in Mexico.

“So, overall, not what we wanted, because we wanted the victory, but some encouraging results for the remainder of the season.

“We knew that we were a little compromised [by not completing any laps in the Sprint] and, in a way, that reassures us even more that the pace is in the car and we need to do a good job of extracting this pace for the future races.”

READ MORE: Max Verstappen isn’t trying to be too ‘clever’ like Oscar Piastri and it could win him the F1 title

Why Oscar Piastri is under the most pressure in the 2025 F1 title fight

With five races to go, Piastri no longer holds a clear advantage over his competitors. He was comfortable just a few races ago.

Now, a retirement could see him relinquish the lead for the first time since March, which would be very difficult to recover from without any momentum built up.

It’s all in favour of teammate Norris, who, despite failing to win races, has been eating into his teammate’s margin.

Verstappen is sitting pretty, too, and with so much experience in such situations, might be considered the favourite to come out on top, despite being 40 points behind.