Outlines ‘clear agenda’ to help Oscar Piastri adapt to MCL40

Andrea Stella says McLaren must make the MCL40 feel more intuitive for Oscar Piastri and improve execution around qualifying and race starts to recover the driver’s speed.

In this brief: 2 sections 1 min read

- Reduced aerodynamic grip and narrower tyres under 2026 rules changed car behaviour.
- Piastri reportedly still 'driving and thinking' rather than feeling the MCL40, costing tenths.
- Operational incidents (impeding penalty in qualifying, first‑corner contact and front wing damage) compounded the problem.
- McLaren will focus on changes that help Piastri extract performance instinctively.
- The team also intends to reduce operational mistakes in qualifying and race procedures.
- Stella expects improvements in the latter part of the season once alignment is improved.

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