Andrea Stella has hinted that the time for clear team orders may have finally come for McLaren as it looks to maximize Lando Norris’ chances in the Formula 1 Drivers’ championship.
While the team has so far been hesitant to impose team orders, the changing dynamics in the championship now justify a shift in strategy in favor of Norris.
The Briton finished last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in third place behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and teammate Oscar Piastri and now sits 62 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship, while McLaren trails Red Bull by just 8 points in the Constructors' standings.
Verstappen himself admitted at Monza that Red Bull’s chances of securing either championship was “not realistic” if it cannot turnaround its car’s performance.
Reflecting on Verstappen’s current struggles, Stella said: “Max is good, even with his tongue. He’s not only good on track.
“Obviously he knows that the car he is driving at the moment seems to provide him with some challenges.
“But we need to be better at capitalising the opportunities that Red Bull at the moment seem to offer by not being in the usual possibility of competing for podiums.”
While both Norris and Piastri are still mathematically in contention for the world title, Stella acknowledged that it might be time to focus on supporting the driver with the better chance.
“We are fighting Max Verstappen, so I think if we want to give support to one driver, we definitely have to pick the one that is in the best position,” the Italian expalined.
“And also Lando, he's been doing very well, like pole position in Zandvoort, pole position here [in Monza].
“If anything with Lando, we need to adjust some little racing things which may help him and may help us capitalise on a pole position like we had here in Monza.
“I think if you look at his first lap, while we review it together, we might see that there were a couple of things that we could have done slightly better.”
However, Stella was quick to clarify that this support does not mean Norris will be established as the clear number one driver.
“I think number one kind of works well as a headline, but I'm not sure it works very well in the real world in terms of what does it mean? What do you do?” he said.
“Let's say hypothetically that we conclude that in corner four [the second chicane], Lando just braked too early, and Oscar kind of naturally had the possibility to take the lead, then what does it mean if you are number one? You swap the lap after?
“It's just very difficult to implement this definition in the real world.”
Stella stressed the importance of teamwork and open communication between both drivers.
“It's better to keep working as a team, get the opinion of both drivers and then work together to pursue this objective in both championships, because it now looks like the drivers' championship is definitely a possibility.
“We were a little cautious even before Monza, but I now we see that McLaren can compete in circuits where last year we were not competitive.
“So I think it's a very competitive package overall, and this could be a very important weapon for Lando in particular in the quest for the championship.”
Looking back on last weekend’s race, when asked if McLaren considered swapping Piastri and Norris in the final stages of the Italian Grand Prix to aid Norris’s title bid, Stella revealed that this option was not on the table.
“We did not consider that,” he said. “We considered other ways during the race to make sure that Lando had his own opportunities.
“But we didn't consider the swap because we were still willing to put as much pressure as possible on Leclerc and eventually induce him to have a problem with the front left, like a lock-up, in one of the chicanes.”
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