McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella, who has repeatedly given the team full support for Rand Norris following the clash with Oscar Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix, acknowledged that it could require a “strict” conversation with his teammates at the World Championships.
Norris came across Pittli behind the pitt as he tried to overtake his teammate. The pair have already replaced the previous two corners neatly. Britton accepts full responsibility shortly after the incident, and Stella says the way McLaren assists Norris in maintaining confidence could have been different if he hadn’t done so.
“Obviously, it’s an episode where he sacrificed Championship Points,” Stella said. “It was an episode for his own admission, he said, “The principle was clear, I just made a misjudgment.” He never said, “Let’s talk about it.”
“This may have an impact in terms of his confidence, but it is up to us as a team to show full support for Rand, and we want to be totally clear about this: full support for Rand.
“We have conversations and the conversation may be even tougher, but there is no doubt about the support we give Rand, and there is no doubt about the fact that we maintain our equality and equality in terms of the way we race at McLaren between the two drivers.
“Rand himself has to show his character to overcome this kind of episode, making sure he’s only taking the learning, taking only what makes him a more powerful driver, and dismissing the little things that remain.
Stella says the number of events means there will be more opportunities as the two McLaren drivers will need to race each other closely again this season, and he thinks it would be better for them to handle the first collision.
“Today, we’re going to 24 races and sprints, so there’s an increasing number of situations where we can have this kind of episode,” he pointed out. “I think we’ve experienced it, not talked about it. Even if the conversation about it was certainly strong, impactful and absorbed, I think going through this kind of situation will only make us more robust as a team and with each of the two drivers in these situations.
“It happens again as two McLaren race close to each other. But (Canadian collision) is essentially a matter of distance, so a better judgment is needed when it comes to distance.
“If anything, the dangerous situation was approaching the last chicane as they were in line, and I saw some wisdom there.”