The F1 São Paulo GP delivered a mixed weekend for McLaren Racing and Team Principal Andrea Stella, with contrasting fortunes for their two drivers. Lando Norris continued his dominant form as he crossed the line to take his seventh win of the season, while Oscar Piastri endured a tougher weekend, finishing 5th after receiving a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
The incident occurred shortly after the safety car restart when the Australian locked up under braking into Turn 1, colliding with Kimi Antonelli. The contact triggered a chain reaction that took out Charles Leclerc, who was an unfortunate victim of the chaos. Reflecting on the team’s weekend, Stella briefly addressed Piastri’s penalty while highlighting encouraging signs of pace from the Australian.
“Harsh” 10-second time penalty for Piastri
Stella felt the penalty handed to Piastri was “harsh”, noting that while the lock-up was visible, the Australian maintained the racing line and some responsibility lay with Antonelli. He acknowledged the complexity of the situation but emphasised and respected the stewards’ decision.
“In terms of the penalty, I would say that definitely on the harsh side, Oscar. It’s true, we see a little lock-up, but at the same time he’s able to maintain the trajectory, which is ultimately what counts. I think the responsibility should be shared with Kimi [Antonelli], because Kimi kind of knew that Oscar was on the inside, and the collision probably could have been avoided.”
“Perhaps Kimi was also worried of having [Charles] Leclerc on the outside, a difficult situation obviously, a difficult situation. But I think overall that the penalty is harsh for Oscar, to be considered fully to blame for this incident. At the same time now it’s done, so I reiterate the respect that we have for the stewards, we accept it, we move on.”
Throughout the weekend, Piastri has played second-fiddle to Norris. The Australian had seemingly struggled to match his teammate’s performance all weekend. Piastri’s crash during the Sprint Race proved costly again, allowing Norris to extend his championship lead. With victories in both races, Norris now leads the McLaren duo by 24 points — nearly the equivalent of a race win.
Optimistic heading into final three races
Despite a disappointing weekend, Stella noted that Piastri showed encouraging pace in his second and third stints. He praised the Australian for successfully executing some key adaptations they’d discussed for low-grip conditions, demonstrating promising improvements.
“From a pace point of view, I think the pace was quite encouraging in the second and third stint, in the first stint Oscar was carrying some damage on the tyre that was locked, and he was also kind of thinking that the stint would have been long.”
“But in the second and third stint I think the performance was good, and just talking right now with Oscar, some of the adaptations that we talked about in these low grip conditions, I think he was able to execute them during the race.”
It has been five race since Piastri has scored a podium. Following that, he has experienced a noticeable slump in performance. However, Stella remains confident in what the Australian can achieve in the final three races.
“So I think we take away from this event encouraging indications from a performance point of view, and race pace point of view. And then I think we head to circuits where the behaviour of the tyres should be more normal now, well in fairness we go to Vegas, I was already thinking of Qatar and Abu Dhabi, we go to Vegas, so in Vegas we will see it could be a regime of its own, like it’s been in the past with heavy amount of graining.”
“So I think it will be a bit of a stand-alone race, but some good learning across these three races for Oscar, and this makes us optimistic for the final three races.”
