Apr.15 (GMM) McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has leapt to the defence of championship leader Lando Norris.
While Bahrain polesitter and winner Oscar Piastri is regarded as calm and stoical, teammate Norris regularly dives into distress and self-deprecation after what Stella admits was a “sloppy” weekend for the Briton.
However, Stella – who has worked with champions including Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso – says Norris is basically in the same mould.
“I haven’t seen any professional athlete, especially F1 drivers, or even world champions, who feel completely comfortable in a situation where they want to do something with the car, but it doesn’t do what they want,” said the Italian.
“It’s an awkward situation, but the way Lando is dealing with it is no different to other champions I’ve seen in the past. If anything, Lando has more style.”
Stella admits, however, that the 25-year-old is “relatively unique” in how open he is publicly – which is often denounced as a sign of mental weakness.
“He makes it visible,” he explained. “He’s very self-critical in interviews. I know other champions who would be quick to blame others.”
Stella said Norris’ tendency to “absorb” errors and “blame himself” is actually helpful for a team.
“For example, in Q3, he didn’t complete the lap and immediately raised his hand, even though we know we made some changes to the car that made his life difficult,” he said.
“There are drivers who, as soon as there’s a problem, blame the team. That’s not healthy. It’s not something you can build on.”
Norris also defended himself, explaining that what the public is interpreting as weakness is “just an outlet for frustration when I haven’t achieved what I wanted to achieve”.
“It’s my deep desire to do well and my enormous ambition to win,” he added. “That’s just the way I am. But I don’t think the things I say have a negative impact on me. I’ve done that my whole life, and I know how to block negative comments out of my mind.”
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