McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes that Lando Norris is the best driver in Formula One when it comes to long-run pace. The Brit’s impressive pace on worn tyres even won him the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this year.
Norris heads into the Brazilian Grand Prix one point ahead of his team-mate, Oscar Piastri. After the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, the Australian was 34 points clear at the top of the World Championship standings and the clear favourite to land the crown, but McLaren’s British star has battled back admirably while his colleague has struggled.
According to Stella, there is one area that Piastri cannot match his team-mate. “It’s been a fantastic journey together with Lando,” the Italian said on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“I remember very well his first test in Hungary – very talented. He clearly had great awareness of what he was doing in the car. His development has been continued. As a driver, he’s become very strong in the race, especially in some conditions.
“I think he’s definitely the best driver when it comes to going long stints, used tyres. That’s Lando’s regime. In addition to this great drive and the results that Lando has brought to McLaren, he has been a fundamental part of the leadership.
“The commitment he made to McLaren when we did not have much to offer… he trusted that we would turn the place around. That’s something that sent a strong message to everyone, to the entire team. A message of belief, it’s a message for which we are definitely grateful.”
Norris is now the man to beat in the World Championship battle. The 25-year-old has outscored Piastri in each of the last five race weekends and, after winning the Mexican Grand Prix by a margin of over 30 seconds, he has momentum firmly on his side.
What is clear, however, is that McLaren will not give Norris a helping hand to win over his team-mate. “We’re well aware of 2007,” CEO Zak Brown declared. “I’d rather go, ‘We did the best we can and our drivers tied on points and the other guy beat us by one’ than the alternative.
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“Which is telling one of our drivers right now, when they’re one point away from each other, ‘I know you have a dream to win the world championship, but we flipped a coin and you don’t get to do it this year’.
“Forget it. That’s not how we go racing. The best way to win the constructors is to finish first and second in the [Drivers’] Championship, and the best way to win the Drivers’ Championship is to have two drivers going for the Drivers’ Championship.
“In the event 2007 happens again, I’d rather have that outcome than all the other outcomes by playing favourites. We won’t do it. We’re racers. We’re going racing.”
