F1 News

andrea stella knows Lando Norris is

McLaren team boss on Norris's self criticism: 'It's a style'

24 June at 09:51
  • Ludo van Denderen

Not for the first time in his career, Lando Norris missed out on a Grand Prix victory where it seemed within reach. The Briton later blamed himself and himself alone for not beating Max Verstappen in the Spanish Grand Prix. Norris also criticised himself after losing out on race victories in Imola and Canada. McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, knows that being self critical is one of Norris's traits. 

The way Norris reacts to his own performance can sometimes seem rather melodramatic. Andrea Stella, McLaren's team boss, knows that this is a part of his driver's personality. "The fact that Lando is self-critical is a style, and sometimes we react very much to the style rather than to the content of things. I think Lando's start wasn't very bad at all. It was a decent start, he's almost one car ahead of Max. The fact is that Russell got the double slipstream of Lando and Max, and in corner one I think Lando was just very wise because it's a second and your race is gone," said Stella, who continued: "I like that people look at their own opportunities before thinking that the world is playing against them. I mean, that's the way you actually work on the variables that you can control. We don't overreact to the style of Lando being tough with himself. Certainly, I'm sure this is something that he will keep fine-tuning over the years."

Being upset about P2 is 'really good news' for everyone at McLaren, says Stella

On the contrary, the McLaren team boss is happy that Norris was disappointed with another second place. It encapsulates the improvement of the Woking-based team. "If he's upset about a P2 finishing two seconds from Max, then this is really good news for everyone, including Formula 1, because it means that we have races, and it means that with little details, we finally can have some different winners than Max." Concluded Stella.