04/08/2025 09:15
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has shared his thoughts on the
painfully close near-miss moment between Lando Norris and Oscar
Piastri during the Hungarian Grand Prix. On lap 69 of the 70-lap
race at the Hungaroring, the latter lunged down the inside of the
former into the apex of Turn 1, locking up the front tyres on his
MCL39 and narrowly avoiding contact. It was the climax of the tense
and captivating late-race fight between the pair, as Piastri's
conventional two-stop approach converged with Norris' alternate
one-stop strategy. The British driver was ultimately able to hold
on, despite having significantly older tyres, to take victory. In
doing so, he cut his team-mate's 16-point lead in the F1 drivers'
championship down to just nine points at the summer break. It was
the Woking squad's 200th grand prix win and its fourth-consecutive
one-two finish. However, the penultimate lap clash could have ended
in tears, both for Norris and McLaren. Despite that, when asked by
RacingNews365 to what extent the near miss was a "heart in the
mouth" moment, Stella explained why it was "firm" but "fair" racing
between the pair. "When you have two great drivers like Lando and
Oscar who race for a victory Formula 1 grand prix and race for the
drivers' championship, it's always going to be very close," the
Italian told the select media present. "But that was firm racing.
It was fair racing. At the same time, it was definitely within our
principles. "We had a bit of a lock-up with Oscar. But, at the same
time, Lando left some space because he knew that Oscar would have
been on the limit of braking." McLaren 'proud' of Norris and
Piastri The 54-year-old elaborated, expressing his pride for how
both McLaren drivers conduct themselves on track, something he
believes pays tribute to F1 and the team they race for. "We keep
being very proud of how Lando and Oscar go racing. I think this is
a great way of honouring Formula 1 racing - these are the values of
McLaren," Stella added. "It's going to be, hopefully, a matter
between the two McLaren drivers, even if we saw Ferrari was in the
competition for the victory for two-thirds of the race. "I think we
have a very entertaining and interesting final part of the season
[ahead]."
