Andrea Stella argued Lewis Hamilton was instrumental in preventing Lando Norris from snatching a podium away from Ferrari at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Norris started from 10th at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Sunday, after crashing out of the Q3 top-10 qualifying shootout.
That forced the McLaren driver to charge through the field, and upon Lap 12, he came across Hamilton’s Ferrari, and on two occasions, he passed his fellow Brit into the final corner, aided by DRS down the back straight.
However, on both occasions, Hamilton braked to let Norris through so he could pick up DRS down the start/finish straight and simply glide back past the McLaren driver into Turn 1.
Norris eventually wised up on his third attempt, biding his time to complete the manoeuvre into Turn 1, but it cost him several seconds and laps.
Ultimately, this proved costly as Norris missed out on a podium to Hamilton’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc by just 1.092s.
Asked by Sky Sports F1 if Norris’ battle with Hamilton was the leading cause behind missing out on a podium result, Stella said, “I think you’re right. I think when the racing is so tight, it’s a matter of one or two seconds, then having lost the time with Lewis, that was a bit of a problem.
“ Obviously, Lewis, he knows very well how to race,” Stella continued.
“So Lando, it took a couple of attempts to realise that he needed to overtake Lewis in corner one.
“Anyhow, that was ultimately impactful for Lando’s chances of winning the podium. But, I think there will be many ifs here and there.
“I think the biggest if is yesterday with a good qualifying, what we could have done today. But this is in our hands, this is under our control.
“We just have to be head down, feet on the ground and improve.”
Norris: P4 ‘the best we could have done’
Norris figured the leading cause behind his fourth-place finish in Saudi Arabia was making things hard for himself on Saturday.
Without reference to the battle with Hamilton, Norris felt fourth was the best he could have managed on Sunday.
“I think it’s the best we could have done today,” he began.
“Of course, it’s a shame to miss out on a podium. We were close, you know, it’s always hard to judge those things.
“Charles drove a good race, good first stint. Gave himself that opportunity to have a decent set of tyres in the second half. And I think he only boxed three or four laps after, five laps after maybe, so not enough to get him.
“But yeah, I think I’m pleased on the whole. I just make life tough for myself, especially when it’s a race like that, you know.
“So it would have been much easier, a lot more chill just to drive out the front.
“In some ways it’s a bit easier, so I’ve got to help myself out a little bit and have a better Saturday.”
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