McLaren Chief Andrea Stella reveals the controversial advice he gives Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri ahead of the races
Lando Norris undermined team orders from his McLaren race engineer at the Qatar GP but his boss Andrea Stella has no problem with it.
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At the very start of the 2023 Formula One season, McLaren seemed like they were having the steepest decline from their form last year. Repetitive DNFs, unimpressive strategic calls and last place finishes made the fans of the papaya squad quite upset as they were hoping to see the team get a top place in the World Championship Standings early on. On the other hand, McLaren’s biggest rival, Aston Martin, showed off their pace with Fernando Alonso getting podium wins at almost every single race. This led to most of the audience believing that McLaren had lost the fight to AMR for the fourth spot in the rankings.
But then came McLaren’s flying form at the British GP. Lando Norris‘ first podium of the year and rookie Oscar Piastri’s fourth-place finish reassured everyone that the papaya team were getting back to their winning ways. And the team continued to impress with Lando’s P2 finish at Hungaroring. Soon, McLaren narrowed the gap to Aston Martin with their thunderous speed and are now only 11 points away from overtaking them in the Standings.
Everyone has been impressed with how McLaren have managed to completely turn the situation around. Lewis Hamilton claimed a few days ago that he thinks Mercedes should follow the Woking outfit to emulate their return to the winning ways. And now, Andrea Stella, who got newly installed as the McLaren Boss after Andreas Seidl’s departure, said that he gives a rather controversial advice to his team drivers before they go for any Grand Prix.
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McLaren Chief Andrea Stella has no qualms against Lando Norris ignoring team orders
At the Qatar GP, Lando Norris was seen undermining the orders that his team engineer gave to him on the radio. When Andrea Stella was asked if Norris was admonished for this once the race was over, the Italian’s response was surprising. He said [as quoted by Motorsports.com], “When we give drivers an instruction, we tell them to challenge us because we want to make sure we understand their point of view.”
Continuing his comments on how McLaren deals with their drivers’ opinions, Stella said that the team asks the racers to, “Challenge us, tell us exactly what you think. We will reassess the situation and come back to you. But once we come back to you, just respect it.”
McLaren’s biggest achievement of this year till now has come from their newest recruit Oscar Piastri. The Australian won a race for the team as he cruised to the finish line ahead of heavyweights like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to clinch victory at the Qatar GP Sprint Race. But the season is not over yet and given McLaren’s form, everyone is now expecting Lando Norris to get that elusive first Grand Prix win after driving for the British team for four long years.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)