Oscar Piastri delights in what Andrea Stella has told him about Fernando Alonso’s ‘weaknesses’

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McLaren boss Andrea Stella has worked with two of F1’s greatest drivers in Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, and has long seen traits of theirs in Oscar Piastri.

Stella cut his teeth in Formula 1 at Ferrari, and he helped contribute to the five drivers’ titles that Schumacher won with the Scuderia from 2000 to 2004. The Italian started with Ferrari’s test team, before then becoming the German’s performance engineer from 2002 until 2006.

Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso even called on Stella as their race engineer at Ferrari, before the 54-year-old moved to McLaren in 2015. He has operated as the Woking outfit’s head of race operations, performance director, racing director and team principal since December 2022.

Stella’s step up to helm McLaren also came as Piastri debuted in F1 for the papaya squad in 2023. It did not take the Australian long to remind Stella of Schumacher and Alonso, either, as he saw traits of the seven and two-time title-winners in Piastri within his first 15 rounds.

Oscar Piastri likes that even Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso had ‘weaknesses’

Fast forward to 2025, and Piastri can become only the third Australian to win the F1 drivers’ championship under McLaren boss Stella’s watch. The 24-year-old leads the standings after 14 rounds with 284 points, having taken six Grand Prix wins and 12 podiums so far this year.

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McLaren are not imposing team orders on Piastri and Lando Norris, who is only nine points behind at the summer break. Stella is also helping Piastri to improve by highlighting to the Melbourne native what made Schumacher and Alonso so strong when they were together.

Piastri also likes that Stella saw “weaknesses” in Schumacher and Alonso, despite the pair’s significant successes. Schumacher registered 38 of his 91 Grand Prix wins with Stella as his performance engineer from 2002-06, while Alonso scored 11 of his 32 career wins to date.

Piastri told the official F1 website: “It’s interesting just listening to what those drivers were like and what other people were like because, especially people like Michael and Fernando that Andrea has worked with, they’re not exactly bad drivers.

“So, listening to what makes them good, and also in some ways what their weaknesses were in some cases, is always interesting to hear. I think just knowing that these people, who won multiple World Championships, still had weaknesses is a nice thing to know, as well.

“So, yeah, I think I’m not a perfect driver. I don’t think there is anyone [who’s] perfect. But to be compared to some of the best that have ever raced in F1, it’s a nice thing to have.”

What has Andrea Stella said about Oscar Piastri, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso?

It did not take Stella long to see signs of Schumacher and Alonso in Piastri when he debuted in F1 with McLaren in 2023, having even spotted some similarities during the Australian’s F3 and F2 title successes. Piastri won successive F3 and F2 titles as a rookie in 2020 and 2021.

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Stella said about Piastri ahead of the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix, via Autosport: “The values he brings into the collaboration with the team, in this sense, make me think about Michael…

“I think we have really good examples now on the grid of drivers who can keep being extremely competitive at ages that we didn’t think would be obvious, because of an attitude to continuously improve. So, in this sense, I think this one is a similarity with Fernando.”

Now, Stella could see Piastri become only the third Australian to win a drivers’ title following Jack Brabham (1959, ‘60, ‘66) and Alan Jones (1980). Alonso did not win a title with Stella at Ferrari, after coming second in the 2010, ‘12 and ‘13 standings by four, three and 155 points.