McLaren boss Andrea Stella has insisted the team will continue to allow Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to race despite a clash in the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
The McLaren drivers committed the ultimate cardinal sin during the closing laps at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as Norris’ attempt to overtake Piastri ended in contact.
Norris, who clipped his team-mate on the main straight as he pursued a closing gap on the inside, accepted immediate blame and apologised to the team and Piastri.
McLaren had reiterated in the build-up to last weekend’s race that an incident was inevitable as the battle between the two to win the Drivers’ Championship develops.
But while the collision could have put both cars out on the spot, Stella has denied that it would trigger McLaren to impose team orders to prevent a repeat occurrence.
Stella highlighted how the Woking-based squad remains committed to granting its drivers an equal shot at the title rather than controlling the outcome on the pit wall.
“Being free to race and being clear as to how we go racing is a value of racing and is a value of racing that we want to try and exercise and respect as much as we can, rather than every time that we have a proximity between the two cars, then having control from the people,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think like that, racing may soon become a bit of an artifact and we want to give Lando and Oscar opportunities to race and opportunities to be at the end of the season in the position that they deserve to be in, based on their merit, based on their performance, based on the racing quality that they have expressed through the season, rather than being at the end of the season and realising that the points have been controlled more by the team rather than the quality of their driving.
“This is not necessarily a simple and straight exercise, but we want to try and do it as best as we can.
“So I don’t foresee that today’s episode will change our approach from this point of view.”
McLaren will become ‘stronger’ due to clash
Stella detailed that an internal review will take place once the dust has settled, though he is convinced the culture at McLaren will ensure the discussion is productive.
“If anything, it will reinforce and it will strengthen that the principles we have [to] require more caution by our drivers,” he explained.
“Because if we say that there should be no contact between the two McLarens, we need to have the margins to make sure that we have no contact, even if in a DRS situation, the car may get almost a little bit sucked onto the other car and cause this kind of misjudgement as to the distance.
“In every situation, in the heat of the moment, that looks like the worst disaster ever. But in reality, the strength of being racers, the strength that comes from having a strong culture, is the fact that you will process the episodes, you will review, you will take all the positive learning and you will dismiss anything that doesn’t have to come with us into the way we go racing in the future.
“This is the mindset that we all have at McLaren and I think this has been proven by the way Lando handled the situation and definitely that’s going to be the kind of conversation that we will not only have with our drivers, but this is the kind of conversations that we will have with the entire team.
“We lean on our culture, which is very strong, and we use these episodes, once they are a little chilled and our mind is colder than it is in the heat of the moment, to become a stronger team with two stronger drivers.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris admits ‘foolish’ Canada F1 clash with Oscar Piastri will ‘stay with me’
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