McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has criticized reigning champion Max Verstappen for an aggressive defensive maneuver that caused significant damage to Lando Norris’s car, ending his race.
During the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen led for the majority of the race, but a mistake during his second pit stop allowed Lando Norris to close in. Within DRS range, Norris attempted several overtaking maneuvers. On Lap 64 at the Red Bull Ring, Verstappen moved slightly to the left to defend against Norris. Leading to a collision that resulted in punctures for both drivers. The damage forced Norris to retire from the race, while Verstappen managed to continue and finished in fifth place.
Speaking to Sky Sport F1, Andrea Stella expressed his frustration over the incident. Noting that Verstappen’s aggressive move overshadowed what could have been a great battle.
Stella suggested that Verstappen’s aggressive racing style stems from previous incidents where he avoided penalties. Particularly during his battles with Lewis Hamilton in 2024.
“I see that the entire population in the world know who is responsible except for group of people [Red Bull]. But the problem behind it is that if you don’t address these things, honestly, they will come back.
“They have come back today because no one properly addressed them in past when there were some fights with Lewis.” That needed to be punished in a harsher way like this. You learn how to race in a certain way, which we can consider fair and square.”
Stella emphasized the need for stricter enforcement of racing regulations to prevent such incidents from recurring.
“The stewards found that Max was fully to blame in this episode. So it’s not about racing in a driver’s way, it’s about racing within the regulations and the regulations must be enforced in a way that is effective because when a car is out of the race as a consequence of this accident, the punishment needs to be proportionate to the outcome.”
Despite the race-ending incident, Stella remained positive about McLaren’s performance, praising the MCL36 and the team’s efforts.
“We come away from this event in Austria with a double podium finish in the Sprint and a podium finish for Oscar in the main race. Which confirms once again the trajectory of the team. We are now in a condition to contend for the top positions at every kind of circuit.
“There’s quite a lot of confirmation of the strengths, in terms of the car performance, in terms of the operations, in terms of the whole team working together, united in order to try and bring McLaren to the front of the grid.
“At the same time, there’s also quite bit of frustration, because of what happened yesterday with the lap-deletion for Oscar. And today, with the collision between Lando and Max. Which meant we could not see this battle going to the Chequered Flag, which would have been quite exciting.
“We will make sure we use this frustration to be even more determined and motivated to make our strengths even stronger and be ready for a second part of the season, which has all the conditions to be quite exciting for the papaya colors,” concluded Stella.
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