11/08/2025 14:40
McLaren has admitted some modifications made to MCL39 challenger at
the start of the year impacted Lando Norris' form in the opening
rounds of the season. After winning the first round of the
campaign, Norris found himself struggling against team-mate Oscar
Piastri, who won four out of the following five grands prix. Norris
has since enjoyed a more positive run of late and currently sits
nine points behind Piastri in the drivers' championship. The Briton
entered the year as the title favourite, given his experience
relative to Piastri and his head-to-head record against the
Australian during their first two years as team-mates. Stella
hailed the steps Piastri has taken as he acknowledged the pair have
been closely matched all through the campaign. "Lando may have a
bit more experience in terms of number of races," Stella told media
including RacingNews365 . "He started the season in Australia with
a strong result, but ultimately, in Australia, Oscar was there with
Lando. "Oscar lost points in Australia just because we had a sudden
rain in the final part of the circuit. One of Oscar's qualities is
to learn very fast, very rapidly. "He has demonstrated it in his
career, winning pretty much in first year in all the junior
categories. He has demonstrated it at McLaren. "Now we have Lando
and Oscar that are driving and operating at very, very similar
levels." The contest between the pair has been closely fought so
far, with minute gaps separating them on the timesheet. While the
McLaren car is undoubtedly the fastest car in the field, Stella
highlighted it hasn't been without its headaches for the drivers.
"This season, what we have to acknowledge we as a team, is that we
have made some modifications to the car, to the launch version of
the car that actually affected Lando's driving style," he said. "We
made some upgrades, which actually mean that right now, some of the
settings used by Lando and Oscar are slightly different. "We are
pleased that now both drivers can drive to a certain extent in a
natural way, they can express their talent, and we see that they
are very, very close. "This makes it a great spectacle, certainly
for F1. This is what we wanted to achieve as a team, and I think
it's going to be very interesting until the end of the season."
