McLaren’s team boss, Andrea Stella, is overjoyed following Lando Norris’s victory in Zandvoort, but he has a minor critique. The start didn’t go as smoothly as Stella had hoped, and the McLaren team is still unsure why Norris fell back in the initial stages. Stella hopes McLaren can improve on this aspect.
Norris secured his second victory in his Formula 1 career during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, earning valuable points for the championship. Despite the Brit’s impressive race, finishing 22.9 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, team boss Andrea Stella is still concerned about the start.
After the race, it was revealed that Norris reacted at the same time as Verstappen when the lights went out, but the Brit still lost time afterwards. “I can’t say anything about it yet. We need to look at it first,” Stella told the media after the race. “The start is just as important as the car’s performance. And if you can convert a good qualification into a good start, it makes your life so much easier.”
Missed Opportunity
Stella is therefore disappointed that Verstappen overtook polesitter Norris at the start, and both McLaren drivers fell back a place. “That cost us a lot. Because Oscar had the pace to beat Max. That was a missed opportunity,” explains the Italian team boss. Norris quickly overtook Verstappen again, which according to Stella showed “how competitive he can be. We know that, we’ve always known that.”
