McLaren explain issue behind Oscar Piastri not running new suspension upgrade

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has revealed that Oscar Piastri’s decision not to run the team’s new suspension upgrade is creating a potential logistical headache for the team.

McLaren introduced a new suspension upgrade for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The upgrade wasn’t performance-related; only Lando Norris opted to run it.

Norris has complained about how he’s struggled behind the wheel of McLaren’s MCL39.

The suspension tweak has coincided with an upturn in results for Norris.

He was the fastest in Canada before an error-strewn qualifying session left him down the order on the grid.

Norris clinched back-to-back wins in Austria and Britain to reduce Piastri’s lead at the top of the drivers’ championship to just eight points.

Stella hinted that McLaren might want Piastri to test the new suspension.

The different front suspension set-up does not complicate the way we look at the data, [nor] the way we compare how well the two cars are doing from a car performance point of view or a driving performance point of view,” Stella explained.

“That’s not a problem itself. If anything it is more a problem from a parts point of view, because we need to have various specifications that we carry with us.

“We are actually discussing whether some of the options adopted by Lando might be interesting for Oscar in the future. This will be evaluated.”

Why isn’t Piastri running the new upgrade?

Oscar Piastri explained that if the suspension change was a performance advantage, he would be using it “no questions asked”.

Unlike teammate Norris, Piastri hasn’t struggled with a lack of feeling when driving this year’s car.

“I’ve not used it ever yet,” Piastri told media at Silverstone, where Crash.net were in the paddock.

“I think the thing is, for me, it’s not an upgrade. It’s just something that is different.

“It makes some things potentially a bit better. It makes some things a bit worse. If it was just all benefits, I would be putting it on with no questions asked.

“But for me, I’ve not really struggled with that kind of particular feeling.

“The year’s been going pretty well, so I’m more keen to just keep the car consistent and worry about how we get the most out of the set-up and the other upgrades we actually have than this change to the suspension.”