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How McLaren F1 will motivate Oscar Piastri to support Lando Norris

This is how Stella plans to motivate Piastri to support Norris

3 September at 09:30
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Andrea Stella has provided insight into how he plans to encourage and motivate Oscar Piastri to support Lando Norris' Formula 1 World Championship title bid on behalf of McLaren. Norris has his work cut out: with eight Grands Prix and three sprint races remaining, the Brit has to bridge a 62-point gap to Max Verstappen.

After the conclusion of the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren's team principal, Stella started to contemplate favouring and giving Norris additional support in his battle against Verstappen. The Brit started from pole position in Italy, but was overtaken by his teammate on the opening lap. The outcome meant he left the door open for Charles Leclerc to take advantage. Late in the race, McLaren didn't opt to swap the order of their drivers either.

Norris still took a small bite out of Verstappen's lead, but it could've been a bigger chunk with the Dutchman down in sixth place. Former F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg grilled McLaren's CEO on the matter as the team started to show that a world title might not be deserved if things remain as they are.

How will McLaren keep Piastri motivated in F1?

McLaren hinted they will support Norris more in the remaining eight races, but they still need to keep Piastri motivated. McLaren themselves are just eight points behind Red Bull Racing in the Constructors' Championship and need every point to try and end the Austrian team's streak of titles. Stella revealed how he was going to keep his Australian driver motivated.

"The things we say [need to be] sensible, according to the principles I said before, like fairness, because it's also fairness that if you support your teammate, winning the championship for the team is a big boost. Like if we win both championships, it's a massive boost," Stella told GPblog and others in Monza.

"It's a big boost for the team, even if he is the other driver. We can't forget that Oscar is in the middle of his second season in Formula 1. The future is Oscar's. He needs to make sure that when it's the time to support, even the support he gives to the team or to Lando, it's an investment for him," Stella concluded.