McLaren boss Andrea Stella has once again taken the heat off of Lando Norris after the Briton crashed out of qualifying for the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Attempting his first lap in Q3, Norris went in too hot at Turn 4 of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, running wide to the kerb on exit, which sent him spinning into the Turn 5 exit wall and out of the session.
The crash relegated Norris to 10th while his two closest title rivals, team-mate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, took second and first respectively.
Although it was a clear case of driver error, Stella, like last weekend when an admittedly “clueless” Norris made mistakes en route to qualifying sixth in Bahrain, took the heat off of his driver.
Stella began by, quite rightly, pointing out Norris had been in strong form up until the Q3 shunt.
“Lando this weekend was definitely quite competitive,” Stella said (via Motorsport.com), adding “every single session, every set of tyres, he put together good laps.”
The No.4 McLaren driver topped FP2 and FP3 and said he felt “on the right tracks” following Friday practice, having given himself a “reset” after a below-par Bahrain weekend.
Still, Norris’ ill-at-ease nature with the McLaren MCL39 came back to haunt him in a big way in Saudi on Saturday, as Stella explained.
“I think in Q3, when Lando tries to squeeze a few more milliseconds out of the car, what we see is that the car just doesn’t respond as he expects,” he said.
“So, this is a behaviour that surprised him. The car understeered a bit in Turn 4, ended up on the outside kerb, and this outside kerb can be quite unforgiving.
“What’s happening is an episode that starts from some of the work that we have done on the car.
“It made the car faster overall, but it took something away from Lando in terms of predictability once he pushes the car at the limit.”
F1 cars are ‘too fast to think’ around Jeddah
The overtly self-critical Norris called himself a “f***ing idiot” over the radio after his crash, fuming at his error.
It was an error no other driver made in qualifying, but Stella, of course, sought to defend his driver further.
The Italian linked Norris’ struggles to those of Lewis Hamilton, and even laid blame at the fast, intense nature of the Jeddah street circuit.
“These cars are so fast, they are so demanding in terms of just adopting a very natural driving style,” he professed.
“We hear this even from Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, and yet he talks about driving the car in a natural way, because these cars are too fast to think.
“You either get what you anticipate from the car, or you’re going to be slow, and Lando doesn’t accept to be slow.
“So, it’s our responsibility to make sure that we give him a car that is at the level of his talent, and to try and correct this behaviour, because we want Lando to be confident and comfortable that he can push the car.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris laments consequences of Saudi Arabia qualifying crash
