McLaren F1 and Norris join forces to improve race starts, while Stella addresses Spa’s first corner incident.
Andrea Stella is not overly concerned about Lando Norris’s recent mishap at the first turn at Spa-Francorchamps. The McLaren F1 team principal acknowledges that the British driver is keen to improve, yet he is reluctant to overemphasise a minor error.
“Firstly, these kinds of situations are always very, very marginal,” Stella remarked. “I think Lando was slightly distracted by what was happening on the inside and went off the track. These are marginal issues that just require small adjustments here and there.”
“We are certainly working with Lando, as we do with Oscar, to explore all opportunities where we can improve individually, but also to enhance our collaboration to be better prepared or to make better use of our abilities and talents.”
“So, I don’t think this necessarily changes our approach, but it does provide us with elements to analyse how some of these missed opportunities occur.”
Regrettably, this is not the first time Norris has faltered at the start or made an error shortly thereafter, and the Italian admits that this is an issue that needs to be understood: “We need to check if it’s the start of the race for a reason or if it’s just coincidental.”
“Like any other athlete or driver, I think Lando himself, with the team’s support, will need to consider what he can do better to ensure that we capitalise on the good work we are currently doing.”
“I believe he was in a good starting position, but once we lost position at the start with this low bridge and difficult overtakings, we definitely made life difficult for ourselves.”
“Costly” errors also plague Piastri
The string of errors at McLaren continues, as Oscar Piastri overshot his mark during a pit stop. Stella explains that this was costly and that work is needed to prevent such mistakes from recurring.
“As Oscar immediately said over the radio on the lap, ‘sorry for the pit stop’, because I think he realises that it could have been somewhat costly. Potentially, he could have ended up queuing behind Hamilton, but he might also have been in a position to attack.”
“So, I think that the loss of 1.5 to 2 seconds at the time of refuelling ultimately proved to be relatively costly. Even because then you would have been behind Leclerc sooner with fresher tyres, which means you could have completed the overtake more easily.”
“It’s a bit of a cascade. We need to work with the drivers in terms of… even in the heat of the moment, not to overdo it at the pit stop position because it can be very costly. I think he had something similar at Silverstone.”
- You may also like>Ferrari Shows Promise on Spa’s Challenging Circuit
- Following us on>Facebook and>Twitter
Stella Responds to Norris’s First Corner Spa Error Stella Responds to Norris’s First Corner Spa Error
