McLaren boss Andrea Stella has asserted Lando Norris’ clash with Max Verstappen in Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix is a “legacy” from previous unpunished moves.
Norris and Verstappen’s thrilling late battle unravelled as the two collided with seven laps remaining when the Red Bull driver moved across on the McLaren at Turn 3.
The Briton blamed Verstappen over the incident that handed both drivers punctures and curtailed his race as he labelled his rival’s moving under braking as “reckless”.
But while Red Bull boss Christian Horner supported Verstappen’s claim that a 10-second penalty was harsh, Stella has stressed that there was one driver accountable.
“The entire population of the world knows who was responsible except for a group of people,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“If you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back.
“They weren’t addressed properly in the past when there were fights with Lewis [Hamilton] that needed to be punished in a harsher way.
“Like this, you learn how to race in a certain way.”
Verstappen has garnered a reputation as being an uncompromising racer wheel-to-wheel and that was criticised during several clashes with 2021 title rival Hamilton.
Stella contends that Verstappen’s aggressive racing was not clamped down on enough then to prevent repeat scenarios from materialising once Red Bull was caught.
“There were many episodes,” he continued. “We have so much respect for Red Bull, and for Max, that they don’t need to do this.
“Almost compromise your reputation? Why would you do that?
“The stewards found Max was fully to blame in this episode. It’s not about racing in a driver’s way. It’s about driving within the regulations.
“The regulations must be enforced in a way that is effective.
“When a car is out of the race, as a consequence, then the punishment needs to be proportionate to the outcome.
“Before this episode, twice he moved in braking. It is evident that we have to enforce the way to go racing.”
Expanding later when speaking to media including Motorsport Week, Stella has urged the FIA to take this opening to tighten up the regulations to avoid recurrences.
“In every kind of human dynamics, if you don’t address things, as soon as you introduce competition, as soon as you introduce a sense of injustice, these things escalate,” he added.
“It’s like anything. Here there was incomplete job, let’s say, that comes from the past, and is a legacy that as soon as there was a trigger, immediately, outburst it.
“Immediately it became a case that escalated. So I think this one like I said before, this episode today should be taken as an opportunity to tighten up, to plump up the boundaries, and in fairness, enforcing some of the rules that are already in place.
“But we need to be very clear that these rules cannot be abused in a way that then leaves a margin to do a couple of times the same manoeuvre, and you know the third time there is going to be an accident. Of course, even statistically, there is going to be an accident.
“Like I say, there is obviously frustration to today, but for me what is important is this is now taken as an opportunity for the FIA, for the sport, so that we can in the future hopefully enjoy more of these battles that means McLaren is in condition to race Red Bull, but knowing that this is not going to end up with a collision. For us, there’s a lot of points gone.
“And a victory which I think Lando deserved to have the opportunity to have. It could have been Max, it could have been Lando. That’s racing. But racing like with collisions, we don’t like it.”
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