Andrea Stella tells Oscar Piastri why he should be ‘proud’ despite poor Mexican Grand Prix performance

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Oscar Piastri just lost the lead of the Formula 1 title race for the first time in six months as his struggles continued at the Mexican Grand Prix.

For the last four race weekends, the Aussie has been off-form and hasn’t been able to match the level of performance delivered by McLaren teammate Lando Norris. All the momentum in the pursuit of the drivers’ championship is with Norris, which is a worrying sign with four races to go.

Piastri has to find a way to apply some pressure on the other side of the garage, as well as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is trying to pull off one of the most remarkable comebacks in Formula 1 history. At this stage, it feels like a very open battle.

Despite his disappointing Mexican Grand Prix weekend, Piastri produced an absolutely beautiful moment with an overtake on George Russell near the end of the race. However, Piastri could have been wiser and got past him sooner if he had sensed an opportunity when Mercedes swapped cars a few laps before.

READ MORE: David Croft saw telling gesture from McLaren mechanic during Oscar Piastri battle with Kimi Antonelli

Andrea Stella tells Oscar Piastri to be ‘proud’ of improvements at the Mexican Grand Prix

Piastri and Norris’ rivalry could get entertaining, according to the team’s IndyCar driver, Pato O’Ward. The pressures of being in their first real championship fight could bring an interesting dynamic and change the atmosphere within McLaren before the end of December.

Piastri’s radio shows he is feeling the pressure already, and after failing to reach the podium in his last four races, he needs to find a reply. He gets two weeks to gather his thoughts before embarking on a trip to Brazil, where he needs to bring a fresh mindset.

Nevertheless, McLaren boss Andrea Stella was pleased with his improvements across the weekend in Mexico, and told him to be ‘proud’, despite finishing Sunday’s Grand Prix in fifth position.

“It was a shame he wasn’t able to exploit his full pace due to traffic,” he said, according to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com.

“He spent the entire race behind a car. But the important thing is that he learned from this experience and improved his driving skills to become a more complete version of his Formula 1 racing ability.

“This will also be important in the next four races, where we’ll likely face even different conditions. So we have to be ready for whatever we find. But I think Oscar should be really proud of the improvements he made over the weekend in Mexico.”

READ MORE: Andrea Stella admitted something about Oscar Piastri ‘for the first time’ at the Mexican Grand Prix

Does Oscar Piastri deserve more credit for his Mexican Grand Prix drive?

On the face of it, Piastri’s performance across the weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix was poor. He needs to qualify higher than seventh.

On Sunday, he was capable of a lot more than fifth place. A late Virtual Safety Car denied him a battle for fourth place with Haas’ Oliver Bearman.

Without being held in traffic, it’s fair to say he could have gained the extra 10 seconds required to finish second ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

That would have helped him to retain his championship lead. However, he still produced some good damage limitation and kept his nose out of trouble. There was a good chance that he could have been involved in an incident, which would have been even worse.