McLaren team principal Andrea Stella comes to the defence of Lando Norris following a difficult F1 Belgian GP. Former champion Nico Rosberg also shares his opinion on Norris’ Sunday performance.
In the wake of an extended rain delay to Sunday’s F1 Belgian GP, Lando Norris led the grid to start. A move just after Raidillon saw teammate Piastri take the lead. Despite a split strategy, Norris failed to recover the deficit to his teammate, eventually coming home in P2.
Speaking after Sunday’s F1 Belgian GP in his print media session, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella defended the team’s strategy. He was then asked about the possibility of a double stack when the circuit was ready for slicks. He confirmed the double stack was considered, with Norris ultimately electing to follow the alternative strategy.
“Yes, we did consider double stacking,” Stella replied when asked about the strategy. “At the same time, it was possible for Lando to deviate. He opted to deviate, which would have given him the possibility to go on hard tyres, which is what he decided to do. Actually, I thought at some stage that that could have been a very good move.
“But I have to say that Oscar managed a very solid and strong stint on the medium tyres, and even if Lando was, on average, a little bit faster, that was not enough to attack Oscar at the end. So, double stack, yes, it was considered, but there was the option to deviate, and that is the option that Lando took.”
Stella was quizzed as to whether Piastri’s tyre allocation had forced their hand. Expanding on the team’s strategy the McLaren man confirmed the medium was their only option, he did note that was the preferred tyre.
“Yes,” he explained. “In terms of tyres, there was no prescription, but in fairness, the medium is what we were talking about on the pit wall. Then Lando, based on the conditions of the track and considering how rapidly it was drying up, we thought that the hard tyre was possible, but medium was always our main choice. The choice was open, though.”
A key talking point following the Grand Prix was the proximity of the McLaren drivers at the chequered flag. Having built a significant lead early in the Grand Prix, Piastri had his teammate chasing him down in the latter portions. A number of minor mistakes throughout the stint cost Norris several seconds of race time.
With the possibility that Norris may have got inside the DRS of his teammate had he not made these errors, Stella was asked about the impact. While Stella confirmed that Norris’ errors likely cost him the opportunity to battle Piastri, the team principal defended his driver.
“Lando had a couple of lock-ups in corner one and also a little oversteer in corner nine [ran off at Pouhon] that cost him time,” Stella recalled. “I think this, overall, prevented us from having an interesting battle, possibly, at the end, but in fairness, even Oscar had a couple of times in corner one a little bit of a time loss. It’s very difficult when you push so much in these conditions.
“It’s very difficult to always drive within the limit of the grip, and also it’s not easy to always keep the car on the racing line where you have the maximum grip, considering that away from that you can lose it very rapidly because of the track being still a little damp.”
Former Mercedes Formula 1 driver and 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg also shared his view of Norris’ performance. Speaking with McLaren CEO Zak Brown on Sky F1, Rosberg delivered a brutal summary of the McLaren man’s missed opportunity in the battle for the driver’s championship.
“We’ve got to mention it wasn’t just one mistake,” Rosberg said. “It was three mistakes from Lando there, and it cost him up to four seconds of race time, which was exactly the four seconds which could have given him a shot on the last lap to go for the win. You guys saw that as well.”
