McLaren team boss happy with Norris' sacrifice: 'Brilliant driving'

Stella is happy with Norris's actions in the sprint race:  

The McLaren man started by complimenting his team. I would like to acknowledge the great work of the team and drivers for being competitive after a difficult weekend in Las Vegas, so it was very important that the car was strong. The Sprint was interesting. We have to acknowledge that Ferrari was on a new set of tyres. Russell was on a set with only one lap, whilst both Oscar and Lando were on a set with two laps (during sprint qualifying)."

Qatar isn't an easy track, as Stella highlights. However, the papaya team still managed to control the race very well. "Here at this circuit, the new tyre loses grip very rapidly, so we had a bit of deficit from a tyre point of view, which we needed to manage in the Sprint. At the same time, we also had a rear wing configuration, which was good in the corners but a little bit slow on the straights. So the race required a bit of collaboration between our two drivers, with Lando supporting Oscar with DRS, and was executed very well, brilliant driving from Lando." The Italian concluded.

For McLaren, the points in the sprint race were most welcome. They now sit 30 points in front of their closest rivals Ferrari, will just two races to go.

This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon.