McLaren boss Andrea Stella has indicated where the battle for the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be decided.
The Woking-based squad will see, barring a miracle, one of its drivers crowned World Champion for the first time since Lewis Hamilton scooped the crown in 2008
Piastri had largely controlled the season up until the European races began, but Norris has worked his way back into the battle, cutting the Australian’s lead to eight points.
However, last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix saw Piastri got the better of Norris this time, overhauling him on the restart and resisting a late charge to take the win.
When asked what deciding factors might occur as there is little between the two, Stella said that it will ultimately come down to whoever makes the fewest mistakes.
“There is very, very little between our two drivers. And this is because the two drivers are racing at a very, very high level,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“We are lucky at McLaren to have two drivers that, deservedly, are fighting for the World Championship.
“I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution.”
McLaren battle set to come down to minute details
Stella cited incidents such as Piastri’s British Grand Prix costly penalty and Norris’ in-race errors at Spa as examples of what could determine the final outcome.
“We saw in Silverstone that an issue, a sporting issue for Oscar, during the Safety Car restart and the consequent penalty cost him the race,” he continued.
“And somehow here we saw that, somehow related to the circuit characteristic, like we said before, it would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position, starting first at the Safety Car restart.
“At the same time, I think Lando didn’t help himself by not having a great gap on the finish line. So I think the execution is what is going to make the main difference.”
Stella affirmed that the team will ensure that the MCL39 is as good as it can be, and that the individuals behind the operation will be on top of their game, to leave the battle firmly down to what happens on track.
“We, as a team, we will try and make sure that, from a reliability point of view, from a team operation point of view, we are as good as possible, such that it will be the drivers deciding their own outcome in terms of competing for the Drivers’ World Championship,” he concluded.
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