Lando Norris’ apology for his late clash with Oscar Piastri in Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix will make the team “stronger”, according to McLaren boss Andrea Stella.
An already difficult weekend for the Woking-based squad got a whole lot worse at the start of Lap 66, when Norris and Piastri touched on the approach down to Turn 1.
Norris looked to find space on the inside, but with none left, he touched his team-mate’s rear and skated into the pit wall, his car coming to a stop a matter of yards later.
The Briton took full responsibility for the clash, saying he had been “foolish” in making the manoeuvre.
Despite the team’s mantra of ‘Papaya Rules’ being broken by the incident, Stella said that it would be inevitable that the two would eventually come together.
“Yeah, we said a few times that it wasn’t a matter of if, it was more a matter of when. And the when is Canada 2025,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“We never want to see two McLarens having contact. This is part of our principles. We saw it today.
“This is just a result of a miscalculation, a misjudgement from a racing point of view, which obviously should not happen, but at the same time is part of racing.”
Stella praised Norris for candidly accepting full responsibility for what happened, and said the incident will be utilised as a milestone to strengthen the team’s mentality.
“And we did appreciate the fact that Lando immediately owned the situation,” he said. “He raised his hand, he took responsibility for the accident, and he apologised immediately to the team.
“He came to apologise to me as Team Principal in order to apologise to the entire team.
“And, you know, it’s important the way we respond and we react to these situations, which ultimately will be a very important learning point.
“I don’t think it’s a learning from a theoretical point of view because the principle was already there, but it’s a learning in terms of experiencing how painful these situations can be.
“And this will only make us stronger in terms of our internal competition and in terms of the way we go racing.”
How McLaren now plans to move on
Norris has already publicly discussed his psychological struggles throughout the season, and many might conclude the incident will bring him back to square one after a triple-header in which he has seemed, for the most part, stronger.
But Stella seemed unconcerned about his driver’s state of mind, and intimated that a full and frank dialogue will be required to help draw a line under the situation.
“I think in order to make an assessment as to the reason of having this sort of misjudgement from a racing point of view, I think we will have to have a few good conversations,” he said.
“And I would, now that we are in the heat of the moment, for me the most important thing is to see a reaction where people take responsibility of their actions.
“And we have already seen it. And I talked to Oscar as well and he sort of is cool with the situation because Lando apologised, he knows that misjudgement in racing can happen.”
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