Stella highlights points in which Norris has evolved

April 24, 2024 11:24

McLaren boss Andrea Stella highlighted Lando Norris’ evolution in the 2024 Formula 1 season. Norris won second place in the Chinese GP and has been playing a fundamental role in the team’s fight for the podiums.

Stella believes Norris is better exploiting the car’s potential: “What Lando has done this year is capitalized on a number of points and opportunities that we identified last year,” he told Autosport. “For example, performance in qualifying sessions and how to do clean laps in those sessions.”

“Last year, he was fast, but we had situations like in Qatar, when he could have taken pole position, but had both laps deleted in Q3. There was a lot to learn from there and from other situations. So, he worked very well to seize the opportunities together with his engineers and the support of the factory. He made small adjustments to exploit the car’s potential to a greater degree. The credit is his,” he added.

Stella also highlighted Norris’ progress in race management, particularly in the early stages when it comes to predicting tire behavior. The 24-year-old British driver managed to do an extensive first stint in Shanghai to neutralize a possible Ferrari strategy, and gain track position over Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

“And I think also in the race he seems to be becoming more and more consistent and more and more able to understand what’s happening with the tires, which axle is wearing out, how long those tires can last. It’s what we normally call ‘race driving’, which is becoming broader and more precise,” added Stella.

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