McLaren principal Andrea Stella hails Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s collaboration as unprecedented in F1 history amid tight championship battle.
SAO PAULO: McLaren principal Andrea Stella has praised teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for collaborating in a way he described as unprecedented in Formula One history between title rivals.
Norris retook the championship lead from Piastri last month with a commanding win at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The British driver now leads the Australian by just one point with four rounds and two sprint races remaining.
Piastri can regain the championship lead in Saturday’s sprint race at Interlagos.
“I am personally very proud of our two drivers, our engineers. They collaborate in a way I think that we have not seen before in the history of Formula One,” Stella told reporters ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
“We are not naive. We know that the pressure is high, we know that the stake is big. But we will continue leaning on our framework.”
The Italian team principal added that Norris and Piastri have always been very supportive of each other.
McLaren have already clinched the constructors’ championship this season.
However, Red Bull’s reigning world champion Max Verstappen remains a threat, sitting 36 points behind Norris in third place.
Stella emphasized the drivers must ensure one of them secures the title, recalling 2007 when McLaren favorites Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton lost the championship to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
“Potentially, that competition went a little too far,” said Stella, who was working for Ferrari at the time.
The team is having internal conversations with both drivers about ensuring the championship winner drives a McLaren.
Stella stressed the importance of collaboration between the two drivers to guarantee the title goes to a papaya-colored car.
The Woking-based team last won a drivers’ title in 2008 with Hamilton.
McLaren have not won both championships in the same year since Mika Hakkinen’s 1998 triumph. – Reuters
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