Andrea Stella has spoken after the F1 Qatar GP, stating that he will continue to support both drivers, as the championship showdown heads into Abu Dhabi.
There was disappointment for McLaren at the F1 Qatar GP. The weekend provided the opportunity for Lando Norris to win his first World Championship. However, things didn’t go to plan. Not pitting under the safety car impacted Norris’ race, and he finished in P4. This means that the championship will continue into Abu Dhabi, as Max Verstappen moved up to P2 in the championship.
It was a similar story for Oscar Piastri. A near perfect weekend didn’t translate into the race on Sunday. Like Norris, he also didn’t pit under the safety car, and finished P2 behind Verstappen. This dropped him to P3 in the championship standings, 16 points away from the Brit. Whilst he is still in the running, the odds are against him at the weekend.
With both drivers’ first World Champion titles at stake, McLaren needs a strong plan going into Abu Dhabi. Verstappen is closing in, and there is a strong chance that neither McLaren drivers will be victorious.
McLaren keeping things fair ahead of the F1 Abu Dhabi GP
With this in mind, Stella has spoken about the approach that McLaren will take in Abu Dhabi in a print media session. Throughout the season, the team have been trying to treat both drivers fairly, stating that they have two number 1 drivers. This isn’t going to change at the weekend, as both drivers are still in the fight.
“The first element to focus on from a team point of view, I would say, is to make sure that we are in a condition, prepared, determined to execute perfect race weekends. Because the pace has been in the car, the drivers are doing an exceptionally good job. But over the last couple of races, from a team point of view, we have not been in condition to capitalise on the good work of the drivers and the potential we have in the car.
“When it comes to the fact that we have two drivers in the quest for the World Championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change.
“We will leave both Oscar and Lando the possibility to compete and pursue their aspirations. Oscar, from a points point of view, is definitely in condition to win the title. We have seen before in the history of Formula One that when you have this kind of situation, sometimes its the third one that actually wins.
“We have seen it, I think, in 2007, in 2010, and Oscar is fast. I think he deserves to be able to just realise his performance. We will let the drivers be in condition to race each other. But above all, what’s important to us is that we are in condition to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers.”
Support for Oscar Piastri
After finishing P2 at the Qatar GP, Piastri was very disappointed. He has taken a big knock to his championship battle. The 24-year-old had also been in good contention for the win, however one strategy call had cost him his victory.
Stella was asked how he was planning to support Piastri after his disappointing race.
“First of all, I think we have to acknowledge as a team that our drivers have all the reasons to be disappointed, because, like I said before, they are driving very well. They are doing an extremely good job.
“I think we saw here with Oscar that even the races in which he seemed to be struggling a bit from a performance point of view, there were some technical reasons associated with the requirement of the car in some low-grip conditions. We come here, high grip, and immediately we see that he Is in his natural space, and he is very, very fast.
“But, to answer your question, it’s the drivers themselves, actually, that have done already the first step. They have already been supportive of the team. They have already expressed that we race together. We go together in the space of such a long season. There may be opportunities, missed opportunities, and things that we could have done better across the board. Sometimes it’s the drivers, sometimes it’s the team, we go united.
“And the drivers have already expressed that after this race. So I’m really very proud of having Oscar and Lando in this team. They are two incredible leaders for this team. And together we will lead the team to Abu Dhabi, an event in which we want to make sure that we are in condition to realise the potential of this team and execute a perfect weekend.”
