McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has admitted that Oscar Piastri must significantly improve his form during the second half of the 2026 season.
The 25-year-old Australian has endured a difficult campaign, struggling to adapt to McLaren’s MCL40 under the new regulations introduced this year.
Piastri currently sits seventh in the championship standings with 120 points, a significant distance from where many expected him to be at this stage of the season.
Team-mate Lando Norris holds fourth in the standings and leads Piastri by 66 points, having shown strong recent form with two wins from his last four races and three podiums in that same stretch.
The contrast between the two McLaren drivers has been stark, with Piastri failing to reach the podium since the fourth race of the season in Miami.
His latest disappointing result came at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he could only manage eighth place at the Madring circuit.
Stella addressed the situation directly, outlining exactly what improvements he expects to see from Piastri heading into the remaining rounds.
The McLaren boss said: “Oscar needs to qualify better and try to stay closer to the podium. He needs to find even better harmony with the MCL40.”
Stella also offered an insight into what he believes is hampering Piastri’s performance, adding: “When he drives while thinking too much about what he’s doing, his decisions become slower.”
Despite the criticism, Stella was keen to express confidence in the driver, stating: “We still expect to see a very strong Oscar in the second half of the season.”
The situation was further complicated when former F1 driver Romain Grosjean caused controversy by misquoting McLaren CEO Zak Brown on French broadcaster Canal+.
Grosjean claimed Brown had dismissed Piastri compared to Norris, saying: “I saw a statement from Zak Brown about Lando Norris’ lap, he cut Oscar Piastri to pieces with a pair of scissors and a chainsaw right there.”
Grosjean went further, adding: “The harshness, the violence of that statement… Basically, he said that Lando was world champion and that he was better than Oscar.”
In reality, what Brown had actually said was far more measured and supportive of Piastri, with the McLaren CEO stating: “Oscar’s been right there with him all weekend and just didn’t get that same extra lap.”
Brown continued: “We’ll continue to look at it. He’ll look at the data and probably do what we all did and go, ‘wow, what a lap’ as well.”
Grosjean subsequently apologised for his error, writing on X: “Today, I made a comment on Canal+ regarding Zak Brown’s comments about Oscar Piastri during an interview yesterday on F1TV, which I was part of.”
He added in the same post: “I completely misunderstood his words and want to apologise for that. I know how important it is to Zak and the entire McLaren team to respect their drivers and treat them fairly and equally.”
Grosjean also acknowledged McLaren’s broader performance at the Spanish Grand Prix, writing: “McLaren had the fastest car today and were unlucky with the VSC. I’m sure both Lando and Oscar will have another chance to fight for the win in Baku.”
Piastri’s form dip in 2026 echoes his late-season collapse in 2025, when a 100-point lead over Max Verstappen was overturned, leaving him third in the final standings behind Norris and Verstappen.