Andrea Stella supports Lando Norris in his challenge
Andrea Stella promises to support Lando Norris over the summer break. The team manager believes that his driver's mistakes will enable him to question himself and come back stronger at the end of the season. After his recent problems at Grand Prix level, where mistakes cost him important points, the Briton is keen to do some soul-searching.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has promised to support Lando Norris in his quest for a reset during the summer break. After facing multiple issues in the recent Grand Prix, the British driver is looking to get back to his former self. He no longer wants to miss out on scoring points.
Performances that disappointed him.
One of the events that had been much talked about in recent weeks is the battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix. While the British driver had started several positions ahead of his teammate, it was finally the Dutch driver who crossed the line first. Before the race, Max Verstappen had been penalized 10 places due to an engine change in his car. He started in eleventh position while Lando Norris was in fourth. The McLaren driver, second in the driver’s championship, could have used this opportunity to close the gap on the Red Bull driver in terms of points, instead he ended up finishing behind him.
The reason for this result is due to a mistake that the McLaren driver made during the first lap of the race. Lando Norris himself has acknowledged the impact of his exit at Spa-Francorchamps. “Going wide in turn 1 ruined my chances,” he communicated to the media. But the recent problems of the driver are not limited to the Belgian Grand Prix. He has experienced similar issues in Spain and Hungary, dropping from pole position to third place right on the first lap in both races.
After alarming findings, he had confessed to starting a process of introspection during the summer season. All this to avoid reproducing the mistakes that he himself had deemed as stupid. This feeling had been shared by Andrea Stella who indicated the need for introspection and analysis within the team to understand the origin of these problems.
Unconditional support
Andrea Stella, who had not heard about the McLaren driver’s comments, decided to show support for him more recently. Although he described his incidents as very, very marginal, the McLaren team director emphasized his willingness to help Lando Norris in his quest for self-reflection. “I think Lando was a little distracted by what was happening inside and left the track. These are marginal things, I just think that small adjustments are needed here and there,” he said.
Despite these incidents, Lando Norris remains a formidable competitor for the drivers’ standings, just 78 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with 10 races left. With a team readjustment and improved collaboration between driver and team, the situation should improve by the end of the season. Certainly, we are working with Lando, as we are with Oscar, to try to see all the opportunities in which we can improve individually, but also collaborate better to be better prepared or better utilize our abilities and talents, confided Andrea Stella.
Like any other athlete or any other driver, I think that Lando himself, with the support of the team, will have to think: “What can I do better to ensure that we capitalize on the good work we are doing?”, added the McLaren team principal. The team’s goal now is to ensure that the Briton uses the summer break to refocus and come back stronger for the rest of the season.
