McLaren boss Andrea Stella has pinpointed the track conditions as the leading factor behind the large gulf between his drivers at Formula 1‘s Mexico City Grand Prix.
The McLaren drivers endured contrasting weekends at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as Lando Norris dominated, while Oscar Piastri’s recent plight worsened.
Despite sitting out the opening practice session, Norris scored a vital pole position with a sensational last Q3 lap that was over six-tenths quicker than his team-mate.
The Briton remained uncontested once he retained his lead at the start, opening up a sizeable 30-second margin to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc come the chequered flag.
For Piastri, though, matters were more complicated as, despite making up two spots to complete the top five, he conceded his long-time championship lead to Norris.
Prior to the race, Stella had highlighted that, like Austin, Mexico had exposed Piastri’s shortcomings when it comes to unlocking pace when track grip is at a premium.
And according to the Italian, Norris’ tendency to thrive under such circumstances compounded his team-mate’s struggles as it exacerbated the margin between them.
“I think when we look at Lando’s recent years, we have seen a weekend with this level of dominance also in some other venues,” he told Motorsport Week.
“Like last year, I think we saw it in Zandvoort. We saw it in Singapore. So it’s not the first time I feel that Lando exhibits performances at this level.
“Here he was very convincing. I think he was just essentially fastest in every single session. He was able to capitalise on the performance and the strength of the car.
“In a way, these special low-grip conditions, they fit perfectly with his natural way of extracting lap time, which is almost like opposite to Oscar’s characteristics.
“And I think it will just strengthen Lando’s confidence and it will be important for the final four races.
“But I think both Lando and Oscar go into the final four races with reasons to be confident.
“And I think the team also goes into the final four races with more understanding of how to extract performance from the car consistently.
“Because over the last few races before Mexico, at times we have left some performance in the garage.”
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