McLaren boss Andrea Stella denied that Oscar Piastri’s discontent towards his penalty in Formula 1‘s British Grand Prix detracted from Lando Norris winning the race.
Norris attained back-to-back victories with a maiden triumph on home soil as he conquered the changeable conditions at Silverstone to head Piastri in a McLaren 1-2.
But although Norris was delighted with the outcome as he stood atop his McLaren to rapturous applause, Piastri was aggrieved to have lost out due to a time penalty.
The pivotal moment came on Lap 21 as Piastri, who was leading the pack, caught out the cars behind when he slammed on the brakes as the Safety Car peeled away.
Piastri’s sudden deceleration on the Hangar Straight was judged to have been “erratic” and he was slapped with a 10-second penalty that he served at his final pitstop.
The championship leader made his indignation at the stewards’ decision clear post-race, but Stella has dismissed that the matter cast a shadow over Norris’ moment.
“Certainly, looking at Lando’s enthusiasm and happiness, I think he definitely got the full experience,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“He knew that he drove very well today and in fairness to Lando, he lost a position because of a fault of the team. He was second at some stage and he ended up from a pitstop sequence third, so I think Lando has done his job, he has done it fair and square, no faults at all of his own.
“He drove very well, he drove fast, he found himself in the lead and he won the British Grand Prix and I think he should completely and fully enjoy this great experience and this immense joy. I’m sure in the in-lap he was crying and very deservedly and we share this joy with him.
“At the same time, we share a little bit of bitterness that surely Oscar has been experiencing.
“But Oscar is a very tough guy and he will use this situation as extra motivation for the rest of the season.”
Which McLaren driver was quicker at Silverstone?
Norris squandered more than seven seconds to his team-mate in the three-lap period that separated the two McLaren drivers getting past pole-sitter Max Verstappen.
However, Stella admitted the sizeable gap that emerged wasn’t representative as Norris had retreated into management mode to guard against the impending deluge.
“I think the race today needs to be looked at, especially in the first part of the race, not only from a pure speed point of view, but also there were some tactical elements,” he explained. “Because we needed to get to a certain stage of the race where there could have been some more rain.
“So I think Lando, when he saw that he was not in condition to take the lead, he started to save a bit to make sure that he had tyres to go to the rain stage.
“While Oscar, he decided to just go for the lead. In fairness to Oscar, he also had great speed. It’s not only determination, you also have to be able to realise the lap times that he was able to realise. And definitely in terms of racecraft, Oscar is very effective when he goes over another thing and he did it today once again.
“So it’s not only the speed, but it’s also what was the objective at that stage and definitely with Lando, there was a consideration of making sure that there were good tyres for when the rain would have come.
“Then actually everyone, once the rain came, decided to go for a new set, or most people decided to go for a new set of Inters.
“But Oscar is a very fast, very strong, very determined driver. He proved that today, he didn’t lead to a win, but I’m sure he will lead to many more wins this season.”
READ MORE – How Lando Norris ‘relived’ his heroes by winning ‘pretty special’ F1 British GP
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