McLaren boss reveals discomfort with lack of Piastri and Norris team orders
Andrea Stella admitted being comfortable isn't in his job description.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella has admitted that leaving Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris free to do battle on track does not sit comfortably with him.
A dominant season so far from the Woking operation has left it atop the Constructors’ Championship while Piastri leads Norris, with an increasing gap to Max Verstappen, at the top of the drivers’ standings.
Andrea Stella reveals McLaren success isn’t comfortable
Though its position is not yet unassailable, such has been its pace through the opening half of F1 2025 that McLaren already has a firm hand on a second consecutive constructors’ crown.
That position has come off the back of both Piastri and Norris amassing 10 grand prix wins between them; six for the former, and four for the latter.
Just 16 points separate the papaya duo who’ve recorded three one-two results for McLaren on the trot.
That run followed a more combative Canadian Grand Prix, where Norris nosed into Piastri’s rear wheel, eliminating himself from the race in the closing laps.
At the very next race in Austria, Piastri came close to contact with his team-mate as they scrapped over the race lead.
Stella and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown had insisted that they will not employ team orders, or favour one driver over another while they’re both mathematically in contention for the championship.
More on McLaren’s title charge:
? Zak Brown delivers latest McLaren team orders update
? Why McLaren did not intervene with driver swap after Oscar Piastri penalty
In Belgium, that allowed Norris the freedom to adopt an alternate strategy, leaving him with a strong tyre advantage in the closing stages during which he reeled in Piastri. Though his charge fell short, it created a nervy finale.
“If I wanted to be comfortable, then I’m not going the right job,” Stella admitted after Piastri held off Norris by 3.4s.
“I’m not really interested in being comfortable. I’m interested in putting McLaren in the best possible position to succeed, which means competing for the Constructors’ World Championship and, if possible, making sure that the Drivers’ World Championship is a matter between the two drivers of the McLaren Formula 1 team.
“In addition to that, even if this doesn’t make my life, or Zak’s life, any simpler, we are here also to go racing in a certain way, which is open, which may give our drivers the opportunity to express their talents, their aspirations, their quality, their constant development. So that’s what we are here for.
“We are very privileged to be in this position,” he added. “Also we are privileged that we are doing that not only with the team we have, but with Oscar and Lando, who are two great drivers but, above all, two great individuals.”
With 516 points to its name, McLaren holds a 268-point advantage over Ferrari, and could theoretically wrap up the title at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in just four events’ time – and seven from the end of the season.
The Constructors’ Championship is the priority for teams as it is against that which prize money is paid out against, with top spot bringing with it the largest piece of the pie. Off the back of its success in F1 2024, McLaren is expected to rake in around $130 million courtesy of Formula One Management – the better part of $10 million more than second place.
Meanwhile, the drivers’ championship, though it attracts the headlines and carries with it significant prestige, affords teams no direct benefit.
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