Stella stands firm: Norris maximized McLaren’s potential in Baku

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has strongly defended Lando Norris’ performance in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, insisting the Briton extracted everything possible from his car amid claims he had underperformed in Baku.

Norris finished seventh in Baku, a result that raised eyebrows given his strong pace through practice. But Stella was adamant that the McLaren driver could not have achieved more in a race where track position and car performance left him boxed in behind rivals.

Norris’ weekend was a tale of missed opportunities, starting with a lackluster seventh in qualifying after a mistake at Turn 15 in Q3. Race day offered little respite, as a slow pit stop and a train of cars led by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda stymied his progress.

Despite these challenges, Stella praised Norris’ efforts, emphasizing that the car’s limitations, not the driver, capped McLaren’s result.

“I think Lando had a strong race. He raced to the limit of the potential that was available in the car,” Stella said. “I think no other driver in Lando's car could have scored more.

“We were hoping to have a car that was in condition to overtake, but the reality is that the car wasn't fast enough to stay close to the car ahead out of last corner, to then be able to overtake down the straight. This means that Lando spent the entire race in traffic, despite feeling that the car had more to offer.

“If anything, the responsibility to try and extract more points may lay more on the team's side, because with a fast pitstop we could have given Lando the opportunity perhaps to attack Lawson.”

Missed Chance in the Title Fight

With team-mate Oscar Piastri crashing out on the opening lap, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix presented Norris with a golden chance to cut into his 31-point deficit in the championship fight. Instead, his seventh-place finish brought just six points.

“If we just look with the lens of the drivers' championship, obviously this was an opportunity to gain some points, like possibly it might have been yesterday in qualifying,” Stella admitted.

• Read also: Defiant Norris shuts down Baku ‘missed opportunity’ talk

“But, like I said, today we did not offer Lando a car that was in condition to progress through the field.

“It was six points gained for Lando, but I think it's not so straightforward [to say] that this could have been more considering the competitiveness of the car.”

For Stella, the verdict was clear: the onus lies on McLaren to provide Norris with the tools to fight at the sharp end. For Norris, Baku was less a case of missed opportunity, and more an exercise in damage limitation.

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