“I think that’s the main thing in which he has improved, and by being a faster driver then this means he can have more space to process situations, process information, focus on the right details, because the foundation from a speed point of view is there, so that’s where I think Oscar has improved the most.
“But it’s a very long season, we need to keep the concentration [in the] team and Oscar himself because we have only done one fourth of the season so far and there’s a long way to go.”
FP2: Piastri leads another McLaren 1-2 at Imola as Hadjar brings out red flags
McLaren dominated both Friday practice sessions at Imola, with Piastri fractionally faster than Norris in each session, but with the duo cautious about their chances for Qualifying on Saturday, Stella is keen for the team to be competitive at all venues this season.
“The chances of winning a race for a McLaren driver, based on the statistics over the previous races and based on the competitiveness that we saw even in Free Practice 1, remain high, and that’s good for us because that’s what we want,” he said.
“We want to be competitive in every single circuit, even if I think circuits like Miami or Bahrain or China gave us a bit more opportunities because the car this year seems to be performing very well where we have low-speed corners, and here in Imola it is anything medium to high-speed corners so we will see.”
