Andrea Stella praises his team for "a very strong first part of the season"
Having collected another impressive good haul of points at the Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella praised his outfit for the hugely impressive string of races in recent weeks.
McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were left with different feelings after the Belgian Grand Prix. Piastri started from P5 on the grid, but he made up a spot at the start of the race, getting ahead of his team-mate Lando Norris on the opening lap.
Having made a late second stop, the Australian was flying late on to close in on the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. He managed to pick off the Ferrari into Les Combes, the 115th race winner of Formula One just ran out of laps to challenge the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, but did earn a well deserved rostrum for his troubles.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella noted: “Oscar drove a very determined race. I think it’s quite impressive that he managed to be there at the end. The race was very clean, except for the last stop where he was long in the pit box, and we lost time."
Norris had a messy start, dipping two wheels on the gravel to drop behind Piastri and Russell. The team opted to give him a longer first stint, but instead he was undercut and with track position king, wound up unable to make inroads on a frustrating afternoon.
"For Lando, it was even more difficult to recover, because he was in traffic for most of the race, and even if we stretched the first stint, there wasn’t much to gain in having fresher tyres for the following part of the race.
“We close the first part of the season with another tight and great race for Formula 1, with multiple cars in contention for the victory until the last lap. Today, tyre degradation was lower than projected, and overtaking was more difficult than anticipated, which made the race interesting in terms of an option for a one-stop strategy.
“For us, with the positions we lost at the start with Lando, and the fact that we didn't qualify ahead on the grid yesterday, it was always going to be a bit difficult to recover.
“Overall, a very strong first part of the season for McLaren. We are even closer to the top in terms of Constructors’ Championship, and we look forward to the second part of the season," commented Stella.
