McLaren puzzled by Oscar Piastri 'anomaly' during F1 title wobble

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has explained that the run of conditions affecting Oscar Piastri in his title wobble is "quite anomalous."

After winning the Dutch GP, Piastri led the drivers' standings by 34 points from Lando Norris, but in the six races since, he has posted results of third, a DNF, fourth, and three consecutive fifth places, to go with two DNFs in the Austin and Sao Paulo Sprints.

This wobble, coupled with Norris peaking with a second, seventh, third, second, and two wins, plus the Sao Paulo Sprint win, has seen the Briton grab control of the F1 title race, now leading by 24 points with 83 remaining up for grabs.

Piastri himself recently spoke that McLaren's team order during the Italian GP to swap places back with Norris had dented his confidence going into the Azerbaijan GP, where his wretched run began, with a crash in qualifying, a jump start and then crashing on the first lap of the race.

Stella has previously explained that the team felt Piastri's slump was down to his struggling on low-grip circuits, such as in Baku, Austin, and Mexico City, as he explained why the dip was "anomalous."

"This sustained sequence of similar conditions is quite anomalous," Stella told media, including RacingNews365. 

"That you have had the tyres and the grip behaving like we have had at the last three events is weird, and the sport is so competitive that the difference is in the last 1%.

"Even if we say: 'Oh, Oscar has been here in Brazil', but it is the third time he drives in Brazil, and every year the conditions are subtly different. 

"Like if we think of Lando, it took time for him to adapt to how the MCL39 was behaving and understanding what the front tyres were doing, where the limit of the grip was and understanding when the car was flicking to oversteer.

"It took quite a bit of time and quite a lot of work with Lando, and it was him on the back foot; it is so marginal."