McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has dismissed the idea that a battery issue was the cause of Lando Norris losing the lead of the F1 Belgian GP to teammate Oscar Piastri.
Rain, standing water, and poor visibility delayed the start of the Belgian GP by over an hour.
After four laps behind the Safety Car, the race was finally green-flagged, and the drivers were off to a rolling start.
Oscar Piastri, who had started from P2 behind pole-sitter Lando Norris, made quick work of his McLaren teammate by taking the lead on the Kemmel Straight on the first lap under green conditions.
The move stuck, and Piastri remained in the lead for the remainder of the Belgian GP to take home his eighth career victory.
Both cars faced issues
Shortly after the move, analysts speculated that Norris’s low battery level, communicated through team radio before the rolling start, contributed to Piastri overtaking him.
In his post-race print media session after the F1 Belgian GP, Andrea Stella discussed how the battery issue affected Piastri’s overtake of Norris.
The McLaren team principal dismissed the idea, stating that both drivers grappled with the battery issue.
Stella believes that Norris not having a sufficient advantage over Piastri when crossing the finish line made it difficult for the pole-sitter to defend the lead of the F1 Belgian GP.
“In reality, when it comes to the usage of the battery at the restart, I understand that there was a slight anomaly, which actually happened on both sides.
“So, nothing that should have penalized Lando [Norris] in particular compared to Oscar [Piastri].
“Still checking the data, but this is the initial feedback I received.
“So, I think the overtaking ultimately came because it’s very difficult for the car that leads the pack to actually arrive first in corner five.
“It’s not impossible, but it does require to have a decent advantage as you cross the finish line, which was not the case for Lando [Norris] already at the restart.”
Zak Brown on the battery issue
Stella confirmed that both drivers struggled with battery issues, while McLaren CEO Zak Brown appeared only to recognise Norris’ problem in a conversation with former driver and current Sky pundit Nico Rosberg.
After Rosberg suggested Norris slept on the restart, enabling Piastri’s move for the lead of the Belgian GP, Brown suggested that the battery issue didn’t help Norris.
“We had a small battery issue, which we got a look at, which I think didn’t help him.”
When pressed about whether the issue played a role in the battle after the restart, Brown confirmed that the issue concerned the start.
“At the start there, we had a battery issue at the start.”
Asked if only Norris faced an issue, Brown responded:
“Let me do some homework, but we had some battery issues there at the start.”
