McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has contradicted the “self-critical” claims of Lando Norris, stating the Briton is performing at a Formula 1 “World Championship level.”
Norris rose to the top step of a Formula 1 podium for the first time in Miami, but a second win has so far alluded to him amid McLaren’s rise to a consistent victory contender.
Missed opportunities from pole in Spain and Hungary saw Norris finish second best and after a poor start at Spa-Francorchamps last month cost him another top result, the McLaren driver admitted the summer break was ample time to conduct a “reset.”
At Zandvoort on Thursday, fresh from his summer break, Norris argued that in the first 14 races of the 2024 F1 campaign, he hadn’t operated “at the level of a champion.”
Speaking to the media including Motorsport Week on Friday, Stella said “The first thing I make of [Norris’] comment is that it kind of confirms his style. You know, he’s quite self-critical.
“He tends to look occasionally at the half-empty part of the glass. In reality, I think he definitely has the potential of a world champion, and he’s performing at world championship level.
“If we compare against perfection, then definitely we have opportunities. But I like that we compare ourselves against perfection, because this is what we need to do.
“I’ve been very encouraged that every little opportunity has been actually analysed in a great level of detail. Lando has always been very open and transparent, like he does with the public, definitely with the team, and we are together in trying to nail and polish all the possible situations in which we need to be better at delivering according to the potential.
“[He is] definitely World Championship material.”
Stella referred to Norris’ trend of missed opportunities at race starts as an area in which the second-place driver in the Championship standings can improve.
“I mentioned before some of the opportunities coming in the first lap, for instance, and trying to find the balance between being aggressive or simply like staying away from situation or accidents,” he said.
But Stella also argued that McLaren “definitely have something to clean on the start itself, which is not only driver, it’s also a team responsibility.”
Team responsibility was a point that Stella was keen to stress and the Italian cited multiple examples where had McLaren made better calls, Norris could be enjoying a closer margin to Championship leader Max Verstappen, which currently stands at 78 points.
“If I think Canada, a case in which we didn’t pit Lando for the late Safety Car before the pit entry, or if I think about Silverstone and the final stint, that’s the team responsibility,” Stella explained.
“If the team had operated at higher standards, then Lando would have more points in the championship, and definitely as a team we kind of appreciate that.
“He puts some of the pressure on himself, or he raises his hand and says, like, it was on me, but… I think I have enough experience to say, mate, don’t worry, that’s on the team. Keep doing the good job.
“Keep working to improve on your own opportunities. But definitely we as a team have quite a lot of work to do as well.”
