{"id":34368,"date":"2025-05-27T05:25:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T09:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=34368"},"modified":"2025-05-27T05:25:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T09:25:01","slug":"andrea-stella-norris-showed-cold-blood-with-monaco-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/27\/andrea-stella-norris-showed-cold-blood-with-monaco-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrea Stella: Norris showed &#8220;cold blood&#8221; with Monaco victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is full of praise for Lando Norris after his Monaco victory.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian team principal has consistently come to Norris&#8217; defence this season, insisting the British driver would discover his best form.<\/p>\n<p>Following a series of races where <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/27\/piastri-i-dont-think-two-mandatory-stops-changed-much-in-monaco\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Oscar Piastri<\/a> has enjoyed an edge, the British driver is now just three points behind his teammate.<\/p>\n<p>With Max Verstappen always a threat, McLaren need both drivers firing on all cylinders to claim both titles.<\/p>\n<p>This could be even more prescient if Red Bull manage to unlock more performance with updates in Spain and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>According to Andrea Stella, Norris will go from strength to strength in what remains of the season.<\/p>\n<h2>Stella praises Norris for Monaco performance<\/h2>\n<p>Momentum is a powerful force in Formula 1, and has already swung in multiple directions this season.<\/p>\n<p>After a convincing win in Australia, Norris suffered a difficult run of form that saw teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/07\/marko-piastri-looked-like-the-faster-driver-for-mclaren-in-japan\/\" target=\"_self\">Oscar Piastri take the initiative in the Championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In combination with Max Verstappen dragging his RB21 to the top step of the podium, the British driver found himself in a difficult position before the Imola GP.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Norris has finished 2nd and 1st &#8211; undoing much of the damage from before the triple-header.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"2RBxoNjXQwxBl2BZd7U_cQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2216991694\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'2RBxoNjXQwxBl2BZd7U_cQ',sig:'w86nJsyMs0m8v6e1u-MTLz5a2GkD3ObyIySLQUjCEus=',w:'594px',h:'385px',items:'2216991694',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Even at the height of Norris&#8217; frustrations with the MCL39, team principal <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/02\/norris-penalty-in-qatar-very-concerning-says-andrea-stella\/\" target=\"_self\">Andrea Stella<\/a> was unwavering in his support.<\/p>\n<p>Stella argued it was a matter of when, not if, the 25-year-old understood how to adapt to this year&#8217;s challenger.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst there is still a long Championship ahead, it seems safe to say the British driver is now in a stronger patch.<\/p>\n<p>The McLaren team principal has praised Norris for his composure throughout the Monaco GP weekend.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I think Lando kept the high standards, the quality of execution and the lucidity that he has had throughout the weekend, I have to say.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;He was faster from lap 1 in FP2 and kept building, to capitalise on Pole Position.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;And today, he went through various situation which required cold blood, I would say.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;So I really think that Lando deserves to be praised for a very, very well managed and executed weekend.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;And I think this is just the start of many more coming in the future.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>A three-way battle for the Championship<\/h4>\n<p>With the exception of last weekend in Monaco, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/26\/fred-vasseur-explains-hamiltons-monaco-team-radio-confusion\/\" target=\"_self\">Ferrari<\/a> and Mercedes have lacked the pace to challenge for victory in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>In the absence of wet conditions or surprise incidents, McLaren and Red Bull have been this year&#8217;s contenders.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"YwEP77OkR_FPGBsi78HbXA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2213418388\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'YwEP77OkR_FPGBsi78HbXA',sig:'7kLVEEoPymT4O8oOK0kkWUOAh3CbS3csqc1J1D6Ern8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2213418388',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This delicate balance, however, could change over the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>Even excluding the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/20\/red-bull-unfazed-ahead-of-new-flexi-wing-restrictions\/\" target=\"_self\">incoming technical directive<\/a>, both teams have committed to developing their cars throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the 2026 regulations inching ever closer, McLaren and Red Bull are not willing to compromise a potential title this year for a completely unknown set of rules next season.<\/p>\n<p>This was actually Red Bull&#8217;s approach in 2021, with the Milton Keynes factory willing to delay 2022 development to continue bringing updated to the RB16B.<\/p>\n<p>For different reasons, securing a world title this season is essential for both our protagonists.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, even in the final months of the year, there could be twists and turns in F1&#8217;s development race.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo: Peter Fox\/LAT Images (via McLaren media gallery)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is full of praise for Lando Norris after his Monaco victory. The Italian team principal has consistently come to Norris&#8217; defence this season, insisting the British driver would discover his best form. Following a series of races where Oscar Piastri has enjoyed an edge, the British driver is now just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":34369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,444,66,1569],"class_list":["post-34368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-lando-norris","tag-mclaren","tag-oscar-piastri"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34370,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368\/revisions\/34370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}