Does Stella Believe in Norris Despite Marko’s Critique

Is Norris Still Prone to Costly Errors on Track?

07/11/2024

McLaren’s Andrea Stella responds firmly to Dr. Marko’s critique, defending Norris’s performance and addressing claims of recurring race errors.

In his praise for Max Verstappen following the Brazilian Grand Prix, Dr. Helmut Marko took a jab at Lando Norris.

The Red Bull consultant described his driver as a “true champion,” whereas the Briton had a rather average race, marked by numerous errors (read more here).

“Max was flawless, and the same can’t be said for Norris,” remarked Marko.

This prompted a response from Andrea Stella, McLaren F1’s director, when asked whether his driver indeed makes too many mistakes to beat a peak-form Verstappen in such challenging weather conditions.

“No, I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of Lando,” Stella replied.

“First, I want to acknowledge that Max is now the strong favorite for the World Championship. Of course, he was already the favorite, to be honest. He’s a fantastic driver, he did a fantastic job, and Lando is behind him at the moment.”

“We’re proud of our position, and Lando should be very proud of his performance.”

“A race like Brazil can happen; issues can arise here and there. We’ll learn from it, Lando will as well, and we’ll come back even stronger.”

Verstappen may indeed be the strong favorite for the drivers’ title, but Stella isn’t ready to give up: 2025 could be Norris’s year.

“The dream endures for next season; the cars will be very similar next year. Overall, we’ve seen a remarkable and rapid development curve. We’ll draw valuable lessons from it as well.”

“Let’s secure the constructors’ title first. And if we don’t win with Lando this year, which is likely, we’ll return even stronger next year to contend for both titles from the start of the season.”

Does Stella Believe in Norris Despite Marko’s Critique? Does Stella Believe in Norris Despite Marko’s Critique?

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Full 2025 F1 testing results

Carlos Sainz
1
CARLOS
SAINZ
Leader
Lewis Hamilton
2
LEWIS
HAMILTON
+0.031s
Charles Leclerc
3
CHARLES
LECLERC
+0.083s
George Russell
4
GEORGE
RUSSELL
+0.197s
Max Verstappen
5
MAX
VERSTAPPEN
+0.218s
Alex Albon
6
ALEX
ALBON
+0.302s
Kimi Antonelli
7
KIMI
ANTONELLI
+0.436s
Oscar Piastri
8
OSCAR
PIASTRI
+0.592s
Pierre Gasly
9
PIERRE
GASLY
+0.692s
Lance Stroll
10
LANCE
STROLL
+0.881s
Liam Lawson
11
LIAM
LAWSON
+0.904s
Jack Doohan
12
JACK
DOOHAN
+1.020s
Yuki Tsunoda
13
YUKI
TSUNODA
+1.149s
Isack Hadjar
14
ISACK
HADJAR
+1.327s
Fernando Alonso
15
FERNANDO
ALONSO
+1.352s
Esteban Ocon
16
ESTEBAN
OCON
+1.380s
Lando Norris
17
LANDO
NORRIS
+1.534s
Gabriel Bortoleto
18
GABRIEL
BORTOLETO
+1.709s
Nico Hulkenberg
19
NICO
HULKENBERG
+2.109s
Oliver Bearman
20
OLIVER
BEARMAN
+3.013s

Testing Total Distance Covered by Team

1
Mercedes
458
2
Haas
457
3
Racing Bulls
454
4
Alpine
405
5
Williams
395
6
Ferrari
382
7
McLaren
381
8
Sauber
354
9
Aston Martin
306
10
Red Bull
304
Race Center
Australia Flag
Australian GP
13 Mar - 16 Mar
FP1
14 MAR 01:30
FP2
14 MAR 05:00
FP3
15 MAR 01:30
QU
15 MAR 05:00
RACE
16 MAR 04:00
F1 CALENDAR 2025
Race
Date
Australian Flag
Australian
Albert Park
16 Mar
Chinese Flag
Chinese
Shanghai International
23 Mar
Japanese Flag
Japanese
Suzuka Circuit
6 Apr
Bahrain Flag
Bahrain
Sakhir desert
13 Apr
Saudi Arabia Flag
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street
20 Apr
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