McLaren boss Andrea Stella revealed the one race he regrets this season is Austria after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris made contact in the closing stages.
In what may be seen as the defining moment of the season, Verstappen pushed Norris wide and the cars touched, leading both drivers to pick up punctures.
Andrea Stella details McLaren’s Austria regret
The incident was undoubtedly better for Verstappen, who not only stopped Norris from overtaking and going on to win the race but even increased his championship lead as he was able to finish in fifth while Norris retired.
10 races on and McLaren team principal Andrea Stella picked that moment as the one “regret” he had about their battles with Verstappen this season.
“When I say keep doing what we are doing, I obviously mean this in a broad sense, but definitely I also mean this in a very specific sense,” he told media in Sao Paulo. “I think we got some learning, for instance, from Austria.
“We got a little too close. And the points we’re missing from Austria, because of having had a proper collision and then being knocked out of the race, are points that we regret.”
To outsiders, McLaren have made a number of errors this season with many arguing that they should have prioritised Norris earlier but Stella insisted that other than Austria, there was no regrets.
“We don’t really regret many other points in this season, potentially the one in Austin where we still believe that the final classification isn’t correct, but we respect the work of the stewards.
“We have tried with a right of review to find some correction of that situation that happened in Austin. This didn’t happen. We move on.
“So I think from Lando’s point of view, that’s the way it should be going racing. Lando reflects, also, in the way he goes racing, our own values. We race fair, we race in a correct way, we race in a sportsmanlike way. And then ultimately in this kind of close fights, there’s a third party that is the stewarding. We trust the stewarding. I think in Mexico this worked very well and we had good racing.”
Verstappen’s win in Sao Paulo has taken him to within an inch of a fourth world title and all he has to do is finish ahead of Norris in Las Vegas and the championship is his.
