Oscar Piastri’s race engineer reveals what he is doing ‘phenomenally well’ behind the scenes

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Oscar Piastri has impressed in only his second season with McLaren taking victories at both the Hungarian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix.

The Australian also has one of the highest points-scoring margins this season and is also looking like a long-term threat to Lando Norris’ title prospects.

McLaren has already enacted team orders between the pair this season following a bullish move by Piastri on Norris at the start of the Italian GP, whereby they arguably let the win slip by allowing Charles Leclerc to split them in the first stint.

But other than becoming a problem for Norris, he has shown shades of brilliance throughout the season and worked on areas that were once weaknesses such as qualifying.

His race engineer, Tom Stallard, discussed the one thing that he has been impressed with by Piastri when speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

Oscar Piastri’s race engineer explains how he galvanises McLaren team

It is impressive that Piastri has came into McLaren and immediately made an impression through his consistency, which has enabled them to overtake Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship and put them on the cusp of their first title since 1998.

Stallard says this is a characteristic of the Australian, having ‘galvanised’ the team when he joined them in 2023.

“The driver comes in aged 21/22 and you say ‘Oh by the way, you’re now a leader in this team of 800 top engineers and mechanics. Go on, off you go and be a leader’ With very little experience,” said Stallard.

“I think that is an area where he is coping very well and his down-to-earth but still humorous attitude is well received within the team. Oscar has a very personal relationship within the team, he knows a huge number of people by name and personal details, so that is galvanising.”

Jenson Button highlights ‘staggering’ Oscar Piastri trait

Former McLaren driver and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button has said that he was impressed by Piastri taking the challenge to Norris.

He’s currently out-qualified Piastri by a 13-3 ratio in the last 16 races, having closed the gap in the races to just 10-6 that favours the Briton.

The Australian is technically in contention still for the Drivers’ Championship with him just 94 points off Norris, although it would take a dramatic turn of events for him to win his first title.