Andrea Stella has refuted a suggestion Lando Norris makes
too many mistakes, saying the team bears some responsibility for his struggles
in the wet in Brazil.
Norris finished
the Brazilian Grand Prix down in sixth place as the pole-sitter was outscored
by title rival Max Verstappen by 18 points on the day, dropping 62 points back
with only three races remaining.
Andrea Stella: I don’t think that’s a fair statement
about Lando Norris
After a run of good results in which Norris outscored
Verstappen five times in the previous six races, the McLaren driver was given
an open goal on Sunday when he lined up on pole position with Verstappen only
17th on the grid.
That open goal soon became an own goal.
Norris immediately lost the lead as George Russell
slipped up the inside into Turn 1 with the McLaren driver blaming “wheelspin”
off the line for his lack of momentum.
An unfortunately timed pit stop in which he pitted just
before the Safety Car was deployed for Franco Colapinto’s crash cost him more
positions to Verstappen and the two Alpines while a moment at Turn 4 meant he
was again passed by George Russell before another at Turn 1 allowed Charles
Leclerc through.
Norris finished sixth, half a minute down on Verstappen
who came from 17th on the grid to win by 20 seconds.
“I made a couple of mistakes, which I didn’t have to, and
it cost me a couple of positions in the end,” Norris admitted.
It begs the question, which was put to McLaren team boss
Stella by Sky Deutschland, does Norris make too many mistakes?
“No, I don’t think that’s a fair statement about Lando,” he
said.
“First of all, I would like to acknowledge that Max is now
the big favourite for the World
Championship. Of course, he was the favourite before, to be honest. He’s a
fantastic driver, did a fantastic job and Lando is behind him right now.
“We are proud of where we are and Lando should be very proud
of his performance.
“A race like today can happen, it can happen that you have
problems here and there. We will learn our lesson from this and get stronger
and stronger.”
Verstappen may be the big favourite, but Stella is not ready
to throw in the towel.
“The dream lives on for the season,” he insisted. “Overall
we have had a great and rapid development curve. We’ll take the lesson with us.
If we don’t win this year, we’ll come back even stronger next year.”
As for Norris’ two costly mistakes, Stella insists McLaren shoulder some of the blame for those as both the Briton and Oscar Piastri struggled in the wet.
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