Lando Norris was comfortably faster than Oscar Piastri in The Netherlands, claiming victory in commanding fashion. However, as seen before the summer break in Hungary, McLaren could face a scenario where both their drivers are fighting for victory. Aware of this possibility, team principal Andrea Stella argues in favour of a pragmatic approach.
McLaren to manage Norris and Piastri from race to race
Andrea Stella discusses driver status
For the first time in over a decade, McLaren are legitimately in contention to fight for both F1 Championships.
Red Bull are only 30 points ahead in the constructors’ standings.
Meanwhile, if the MCL38 continues to perform at a high level, Norris could still close the gap to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ Championship.
Despite this, there are potentially complicated scenarios that McLaren must account for.
Putting aside the importance of strategy and operational efficiency, the Woking-based team could be in a position where Norris and Piastri are fighting for position.
Should this happen, Andrea Stella makes clear that each situation will be assessed independently:
“We have nine races ahead of us and we create a number one driver – and then what do we do? All the favours to the number one driver?
“This is not a healthy way of running a team,” he told the media last weekend.
“But for every race, we analyse the situations.
“And in the 50-50 situations or in those cases in which, in this case, Lando may need a bit of extra support from the team – we are going to give it.
“But the team includes Oscar. The team should not do things that don’t look reasonable to Oscar. We are in this together…
“He needs to be part of this conversation, and he needs to be in agreement with what we think is the way forward.”
McLaren must face growing pressure
Every midfield team aspires to climb the field and become established front-runners. In quite spectacular fashion, Andrea Stella’s team have accomplished this jump.
However, McLaren still needs to address certain areas if they want to take the Championship from Red Bull and Verstappen.
The team radio message sent to Norris at the beginning of the Dutch GP (when the team asked who Norris thought he was racing) seemed an extremely pessimistic question to ask the British driver.
Even without the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that McLaren’s fight in Zandvoort was for victory.
Although one message should not be over-analysed, this team radio evidences the shift in mentality that is necessary at Woking.
Team principal Andrea Stella has already spoken about this, emphasising the importance of being ambitious and striving to win every weekend in what remains of 2024.
Rising to this challenge will be difficult for McLaren, but it is necessary if they are to fight for the F1 crown.
