Whilst this retirement obviously changes the dynamics of the title fight, Andrea Stella believes it could spark Norris’ best form.<\/p>\n There are many factor have have gone into McLaren’s success over the last eighteen months, which has seen them become the benchmark in Formula 1.<\/p>\n The primary reason for their success is an excellent engineering and aerodynamic team, which has fully grasped these ground-effect cars.<\/p>\n Unlike rivals, the Woking team have an almost perfect success rate with their upgrades<\/a>.<\/p>\n McLaren have such confidence in their correlation tools that, in Canada, a specific update was introduced to make Norris more comfortable in the car – an update Piastri was happy to avoid.<\/p>\n In addition to McLaren’s elite development team, they have also had rock solid reliability.<\/p>\n Of course, most teams have consistently avoided car-related retirements since 2022, largely thanks to the robustness of modern power units.<\/p>\n Still, McLaren in particular have excelled in this department.<\/p>\n Until Zandvoort, they avoided the DNFs that other Mercedes-powered teams (Aston Martin<\/a> in Monaco, Mercedes in Imola and Monaco) have suffered.<\/p>\n Norris’ retirement, however, adds an unexpected dimension to this year’s Championship battle.<\/p>\n Though Andrea Stella acknowledges this, he believes Norris’ new reality could bring the best out of him.<\/p>\n “If anything, we may see even a better version of Lando because now is the time to extract – if there is anything more – even more out of his potential.<\/em><\/p>\n “I look forward to seeing Lando in the coming races.<\/em><\/p>\n “I’m sure this is going to be a great spectacle for Formula 1.<\/em><\/p>\n “And if anything, it’s going to make the competition with Oscar even more interesting.”<\/em><\/p>\n There is some logic to Stella’s optimism that Norris will recover from his Zandvoort heartbreak.<\/p>\n With nine races left this year, there is still time for the British driver to try and create some momentum.<\/p>\n His only option, unless Piastri himself has a retirement, is to win the overwhelming majority of races left in the season.<\/p>\n Even if Piastri wins a few races, that could be enough for the Australian to clinch the title – assuming he finishes second in the remaining events.<\/p>\n A key factor will also be whether Red Bull<\/a>, Ferrari<\/a> or Mercedes are fast enough to fight for wins.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/2232583736-1024x683.jpg\")
McLaren reflect on rare mechanical DNF<\/h2>\n
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Still plenty of points on the table<\/h4>\n