Criticism of Lando Norris after the Bahrain GP
Lando Norris found himself at the center of criticism following his performance during the Bahrain GP weekend. The main complaints directed at the young British driver concerned his poor qualifying result, where he could not go beyond sixth on the grid despite driving a McLaren that many considered dominant at Sakhir. And although the race went somewhat better—with a third-place finish behind teammate Oscar Piastri and George Russell after a decent recovery—his mispositioning at the start added to the narrative that Norris might be mentally too fragile for a fight at the top.
McLaren’s team principal defends Lando Norris
Criticism that McLaren team principal Andrea Stella strongly rejected after the chequered flag last Sunday in Bahrain. The Umbrian engineer, who in his career has worked with world champions like Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, and Fernando Alonso, explained that the difficulties faced by Lando Norris were more technical in nature: “I’ve never seen a professional athlete, especially F1 drivers and even world champions, feel completely comfortable when they want to do something with the car but the car doesn’t respond the way they want it to.”
Andrea Stella and Lando Norris’s style
“It’s a bit of an awkward situation,” Andrea Stella added regarding Norris’s difficulties with the 2025 McLaren, “but the way Lando is handling it is no different from what I’ve seen from other champions in the past. In fact, I’d say Lando has more style. He doesn’t hide, he makes these difficulties visible and is very self-critical in interviews. I know other champions who would be very quick to blame others.” – the former Ferrari team member pointed out – “For example, in Q3, he didn’t complete the lap and immediately raised his hand to take responsibility, even though everyone in the team knew we had made last-minute changes that made things difficult for him. There are drivers who, the moment something goes wrong, immediately blame the team. That’s not healthy, it’s not something you can build on,” concluded Andrea Stella as he explained the reasons behind Lando Norris’s struggles in Bahrain.
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