Oscar Piastri ‘on the back foot’ admits McLaren chief after double DNS

Oscar Piastri is on the “back foot” according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella after he failed to make it to the start line in either of the two opening grands prix.

The Australian’s sole racing laps so far this year come via the 19 laps of the sprint race in China with the driver crashing on the way to the grid in Melbourne and then having technical problems in Shanghai.

Oscar Piastri ‘on the back foot’ says Stella

While a double DNS to start the year is never on a driver’s wishlist, if Piastri could have chosen a season for this not to happen, chances are 2026 would have been high on his list given the sweeping regulation changes.

Plenty of drivers up and down the grid have already spoken of the benefit of track driving compared to simulator in understanding how this particular regulation cycle works but for Piastri, he finds himself with up to 114 laps down compared to his colleagues.

Stella did concede that missing the opening two races has put Piastri “on the back foot.”

“With entirely new regulations and also a different way of going racing, where you have now, as a driver, to manage the shortage of electrical energy, which at the same time is so crucial for propulsion, there’s a lot of learning in every single lap you do in a weekend, and obviously when it comes to racing and racing other cars, the race itself is the most important situation to learn,” he said.

“So, from this point of view Oscar is a little bit on the back foot, but at the same time there’s a lot that you can learn looking at the data of your team-mate.

“Even in the race in China, I was with Oscar and Lando [Norris], we were commenting, we were learning while looking, so there’s learning anywhere.

“Also, I have to say that Lando and Oscar are collaborating this season, if anything, more than ever before. They keep gelling in terms of team-mates, they keep sharing information, they keep trying to see what is the common learning.

“So, I think Oscar has taken some benefit from what has happened collectively as a team.”

More from Suzuka from PlanetF1.com

* Oscar Piastri shocks as he beats Mercedes pair in Suzuka FP2 as McLaren starts strong
* Lewis Hamilton radio message reveals ‘confidence’ issues with Ferrari car
* Honda dismisses Adrian Newey claim as ‘misunderstanding’

In his pre-weekend press conference, Piastri was asked if it had been the most frustrating start to a season in his F1 career but he instead said he was not dwelling on it.

“It’s certainly not been the most ideal start,” he said. “I think for myself, all you can do is look at what is coming in the future. For me, certainly in China, there was no point dwelling on it, wasn’t anything I could do and we’ve got a race here this weekend and we want to try and do better.

“And so that’s, that’s all you can, all you can do, really. Clearly, also from a competitive standpoint, we’re not as fast as we want to be.

“So I think we’ve got plenty to focus on, apart from just a bad couple of races. So that’s what we’re putting our energy into. That’s what I’m putting my energy into. I think a lot of the things that I can control so far, like qualifying, things have gone well, considering where we stand, and there’s just so many things to try and understand with these cars, with these power units, and that’s what we’re trying to put our energy into.”

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