McLaren offer ‘desperate’ F1 warning to Norris
McLaren has told Lando Norris he does not need to be “desperate” in his F1 championship fight with Max Verstappen.
In Mexico, the two drivers clashed on track once again, with Verstappen receiving two 10-second time penalties for forcing Norris off track and then overtaking him off it.
It was the latest clash between the pair, with Norris suffering a DNF after contact in Austria and also receiving a five-second time penalty and losing a podium for a further incident in the United States GP.
Mexico marked the first time that Norris had ‘beaten’ Verstappen in a high-stakes moment, with boss Andrea Stella telling Norris that he does not need to be “desperate” in his driving as he looks to close the 47-point gap to Verstappen with 120 left on the board.
“It needs a third party, it needs the authority, so we are completely happy with the way Lando has gone racing before, and anytime I see headlines, I always needed to have a conversation with Lando, reassuring him that: ‘Don’t worry, it will be alright,'” Stella told media including RacingNews365.
“I think Lando often looks at his own racing as glass half-empty in relation to what he could do.
“But in our conversations and internal reviews have always been very clear: ‘Lando, we like, we approve and confirm the way you go racing’.
“‘It is not for you to go and try to find justice yourself, you go racing in a fair, sporting way that you do and then there needs to be a third party that will say whether some manoeuvres are correct or not.
“‘Don’t be desperate, you don’t have anything to prove, you go racing fair and square.'”
Stella on Norris’s driving
Stella added that he felt it was “important” for McLaren to continue to affirm to Norris what it required from him.
“That is what we want from Lando, that is what Lando wants from himself and it is important that the team confirms what we want from him,” he added.
“That is what we want to do for a driver at McLaren, so in this sense, [Mexico] was a positive day because it has proven that it is good to race hard, but it can’t be resolved on track by the two drivers.”
