McLaren boss Andrea Stella defended Oscar Piastri after his first lap shunt in the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, saying similar incidents happened to drivers like Michael Schumacher.
The Australian suffered a catastrophically short race in Baku, locking up and hitting the outside barrier at Turn 5, having bogged down at lights out.
Piastri’s mistake proved to be less costly, contributing to the Woking-based squad’s failure to wrap up the Constructors’ title, having needed just nine more points than Ferrari to do so.
The title-leader admitted the error was “not my finest moment,” also robbing himself of the chance to increase his own advantage at the top of the Drivers’ standings.
But Stella launched a robust protection of his driver after the race, citing his own experiences of working with top drivers, such as Schumacher.
“I have worked with multi-champion drivers, and in a season — every season, even the most dominant — even by one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1, like Michael Schumacher, I have seen events like this,” he said.
“Events in which the most you take away [from the weekend] is the learning, because things become, for some reasons difficult, and as soon as you misjudge the grip available, you get highly punished.
“So, a one-off weekend in which things don’t go his way, and he ultimately had a loss to review.
“It is no surprise, no exception that we should not be worried about it, because this has happened to pretty much all champions, even the ones with the best track record.”
Stella states Norris pit stop error made little difference
McLaren’s day didn’t get much better from there, as Lando Norris was forced to start the race seventh after a late error in Q3 cost him time and a better grid spot.
The Brit had an opportunity to close the gap to Piastri after his retirement, but could only cement the position in which he started.
Norris’ solitary pit stop was a repetition of the one in Monza that led to the controversial driver switch between himself and Piastri – a sticking wheel gun causing a delay.
Caught in a DRS train with Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda ahead of him, Norris was unable to move any further up the order, narrowing the title lead to 25 points, when it could have been more.
“The pit stop itself didn’t make any difference because we would have ended up pretty much in the area of Leclerc,” Stella told Sky Sports F1.
“For me, the most important takeaway was that the car wasn’t fast enough.
“With a fast enough car, I think we would have been able to overtake and then have some free air and in free air actually use the full potential.”
Falling behind Charles Leclerc initially, Norris did manage to sweep past the Monegasque’s Ferrari, a positive Stella preferred to focus on.
“We still have to check whether, even with the fastest pit stop, we could have been ahead or not of a Ferrari,” the Italian explained.
“Then we managed to overtake and regain this position, which was good. It was important for the points and for Lando’s championship.
“But definitely in terms of pit stops, that’s an area in which we have already concentrated our efforts.
“But as a matter of fact, we need to keep working because there’s some important performance that is available through pit stops.
“We have seen that the racing, if anything, is getting tighter and tighter, so the impact of a pit stop now gets more and more important.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris quashes ‘opportunity missed’ notion after F1 Azerbaijan GP disappointment
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