McLaren make startling ‘50%’ Norris claim in Piastri victory

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has asserted Oscar Piastri owes 50 per cent of his race win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to Lando Norris.

Piastri took his second career win on Sunday around the Baku City Circuit, fending off a challenge from Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.

Perez was in a position to undercut Piastri in the pit stop phase of the race, but the Red Bull driver found himself held up by Norris through the middle sector after McLaren instructed him to back Perez up.

Piastri was able to stay ahead of Perez when he rejoined after his stop before going on to overtake Charles Leclerc for the race lead.

“Perez was undercutting and effectively, without Lando’s help Perez could have pitted [and undercut] ahead of Oscar, and the race could have unfolded in a completely different way,” Stella said.

“So, I think 50 per cent of Oscar’s victory 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 for us, we approach every weekend trying to maximise the result for the team, and if one driver needs help, the other driver will do it.”

Stella stated holding the lead in the second phase of the race was crucial for the outcome due to the difficulty of overtaking.

“I think, apart from the overtaking that Oscar was able to do on Leclerc, I think whoever was in the lead could have won the race today, because it was much, much easier on the tyres to be in the lead than following,” he said.

“We saw that Leclerc finished the tyres, and you finish the tyres because you need to ask the tyres what you’re going to lose from an aerodynamic point of view when you are one second behind for so many laps.”