For McLaren, Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix is already seen as a defining moment in the outfit’s 2024 season, thanks to teamwork, strategy, and a critical role played by Lando Norris in his teammate Oscar Piastri’s stunning victory.
The Australian driver had shadowed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the first part of the race. However, lurking behind in third was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
The Mexican made an early pit stop on lap 14, with the hope of undercutting Piastri. But McLaren’s strategy called for the latter Piastri to stay out, not immediately responding to Perez’s pitstop.
This decision added two nail-biting laps before Piastri eventually pitted on lap 16, placing him in a precarious position.
Yet, what happened next was a testament to McLaren’s unified approach to racing.
After Perez emerged from his stop, he found himself behind Lando Norris, who had started the race on harder tyres from 15th place. While Norris was in his own battle, fighting to recover from a difficult qualifying session, the McLaren pit wall saw an opportunity to aid Piastri's bid for victory.
At that moment, Norris' role in the race took on new significance. His race engineer came over the radio with a crucial request: hold up Perez.
The Briton, without hesitation, executed his mission to perfection. For two laps, Norris defended fiercely, keeping the Red Bull charger at bay.
The delay was pivotal. It gave Piastri just enough time to pit and rejoin the race ahead of Perez. With the Red Bull temporarily out of the picture, Piastri could focus entirely on closing the gap to Leclerc.
Stella reflected after the race on the crucial significance of those two laps.
"Perez was undercutting and effectively, without Lando's help Perez could have pitted [and stayed] ahead of Oscar, and the race could have unfolded in a completely different way," Stella said.
"So, I think 50% of Oscar's victory today is shared with Lando and it just shows that we are approaching racing as one team.
“We had conversations before the weekend where we would bias one way or the other. But we approach every weekend trying to maximise the result for the team, and if one driver needs help, the other driver will do it."
By lap 20, Piastri had caught up with Leclerc, and as they approached Turn 1, Piastri darted out of the Ferrari’s slipstream and made his move. From seemingly too far back, he lunged to the inside and cleanly overtook the leader.
Stella himself was caught off guard by the audacity of the maneuver.
"When I watched it live and I saw him going, my instinct said he's going to go long, because the delay in the braking point," he said.
"He came from quite far, and still he negotiated the apex. So yeah, I was surprised. But Oscar is always surprising us with his ability, and I would say today, he gave also a demonstration of his mental strength.
"He drove like a driver that has a lot of experience, that has been under this kind of pressure before, that can look with one eye at the mirror, with the other eye at where the braking point is."
Behind Piastri’s triumph, Norris had quietly carved out a remarkable recovery from 15th on the grid to finish fourth, securing vital points for McLaren.
This joint effort from both drivers allowed McLaren to achieve another milestone—they overtook Red Bull in the Constructors’ championship, marking the first time in a decade that McLaren led the standings.
The win had opened up a 20-point lead over their rivals.
"As a milestone, it's definitely huge," Stella added. "Because we don't have to forget that we were last when we started last season, and now we lead the classification.
"That has been possible thanks to the hard work, and the quality of the work of the entire team, the support from our shareholders, our partners, the fans - you achieve this because you achieve it together."
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