‘I couldn’t ask for a better boss’ – Norris opens up on how ‘integral’ Stella dealt with McLaren team orders talks

Lando Norris has given an insight into McLaren boss Andrea Stella's approach when making decisions within the team, particularly in terms of addressing the topic of team orders as the squad look to fight for both championships.

With Norris and the team having increasingly moved into title contention as the campaign has progressed – the Briton having reduced the gap to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ standings to 52 points, while McLaren have overhauled Red Bull at the top of the constructors’ table – it was confirmed after the Italian Grand Prix in September that Oscar Piastri would support Norris when the need arises during the remainder of the season.

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This came after Stella suggested following the event in Monza that internal talks would take place to ensure that the squad were “working as a team” going forwards, with Piastri having passed Norris via a bold move on the opening lap of the race.

When asked during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend how Stella is at managing conversations around team orders, Norris responded: “Very, very good, and I probably wouldn’t ask for anyone else to have his job and make these kinds of decisions.

“From all the people that I’ve known and worked with, I think Andrea is one of the most integral parts of keeping a team together, motivating the team, pushing the team, making the team what it is today, which is close to being the best team in Formula 1 at the minute.

“I have a lot of confidence in him and we just work well. There’s always good points, constructive points, criticism points, but that all just makes us work better as a team. I think the most important thing that we have is just honesty between one another.

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“When I agree or disagree, when he agrees or disagrees, we say it to one another and we come up with the best solution. I’m very happy with how he works, how he wants to understand things. He’s a smart guy but he’s also a racer.

“He knows how you go racing and he’s worked with a lot of incredible drivers in the past, so he knows the mentality of drivers as well and how every driver just wants to go out and win and not listen to what people say, but also know you have to at the same time. I couldn’t ask for a better boss.”

In terms of whether team orders should have been implemented earlier in the campaign, Norris suggested that he does not believe this would have made a difference.

“I’ve not lost out on any points,” the 24-year-old explained. “It’s like saying from Round 1 Oscar needs to let me past in every race, it doesn’t make sense. I’ve been the closest for a long time, but other drivers can still win the championship, not just me.

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“We’re still fighting for ourselves – Oscar is fighting for himself, Charles [Leclerc] is fighting for himself. There isn’t a number. You cannot say exactly this race rules need to change. It doesn’t make sense. I’m very happy with how we’ve worked as a team and the direction we’re going.”