Stella thought Piastri’s pass on Leclerc would “go wrong”

Piastri’s pass was key to a fantastic victory in Baku

McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Stella admits that he thought Oscar Piastri’s crucial passing move on Charles Leclerc would “go wrong”.

He adds that the fact the move succeeded was another demonstration of the Australian’s talent and ability to surprise even his own team.

Piastri slipped past Leclerc at Turn 1 at the start of lap 20, and stayed in the lead for the remainder of the race, while successfully fending off the Ferrari driver.

“I think Oscar just took advantage that his hard tyres were in a really sweet spot when Leclerc pitted ahead of him,” said Stella. “And he just seemed to have an edge to be able to attack him in corner one.

“But if you look where Oscar is coming from, where he attacks Leclerc, in corner one, that’s from quite a far, and still he negotiates the apex in corner one.

“So I think it’s one of those cases in which you have to point out the ability of the driver, because he delays the braking point so much, and still negotiates corner one in such a precise way.

“He doesn’t even have to rely on Leclerc conceding any space. So it’s one of those cases in which just, I think the talent, the precision in the execution, from Oscar’s point of view, just made a difference.”

Stella admitted that his first thought was the move would not work.

“When I watched it live, and I saw him going, my instinct said, like, it’s going to go wrong, because the delay in the braking point was kind of like, if Leclerc braked there, that must be the braking point, and he’s delaying.

“So my instinct was, it’s going to go wrong. But that’s why I wanted to emphasise in my answer before, just the precision in the execution to then actually be on the inside apex kerb in corner one.

“So yeah, I was surprised, but Oscar is always surprising us with his talent, with his ability, and I would say today he gave also a demonstration of his mental strength.

“He drove like a driver that has a lot of experience, that has been under this kind of pressure before, that can move with one eye at the mirror, with the other eye of where is the braking point?

“And Oscar did it again with a great level of precision, and pretty controlled. Even when he was talking on the radio he seemed very much under control. So a phenomenal driver, brilliant drive today.”

On several occasions Piastri successfully defended from Leclerc at the first corner while also being able to get out of it with enough speed to move left and block him into Turn 2. 

Asked if the characteristics of the car helped Stella said: “I think it’s a combination, 90% is Oscar, I think, his judgment.

“The most difficult one will have been the first one, because when you do the first one of these kind of manoeuvres, actually you don’t have references. I think after the first one, he will have found some references.

“And therefore, I think later on, it became easier for him. But when you do it the first time, you really have to judge things very precisely, not to be under attack braking for corner three with the next DRS zone, or for corner two.

“I think where the 10% of the car comes to us came to Oscar’s advantage is that the car is good traction. I think we know that our rear end is good, especially when we are around 100kph or more, which is where you are in corner one.

“And I think this is definitely something that Oscar did exploit, but it wouldn’t work without this precision from a driving point of view.”