McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said he was unsure driver Lando Norris could’ve passed race leader Max Verstappen for the victory of the Imola Grand Prix if it had a few more laps.
Norris finished Sunday’s Grand Prix in second place after winning the last race in Miami, his first in Formula 1.
The young British driver attempted to repeat his glorious drive from the last weekend but failed to do so, as a dominant Verstappen led the race, ultimately claiming the victory.
When speaking about their performance on track, team principal Stella said that McLaren “actually lost too much time in the first stint behind Max [Verstappen], but we had too much rear degradation and we thought actually today was about watching the mirrors [more] than watching ahead of us.”
“After a period on the hard tires in which we saved the tires, while Leclerc and Oscar [Piastri] were fighting each other, I think this initial investment paid dividends towards the end of the race for Lando.
“Managing the budget of the tires was an important factor and we have to say from this point of view that Lando has become a bit of a master.”
Speaking about the performance of driver Piastri, Stella said the Australian had a more complex race, initially because of the grid penalty he received after qualifying on Saturday.
“Oscar [Piastri] paid for some issues we had yesterday in qualifying, otherwise he would’ve been on the podium as well. We take this positive and we look forward with some optimism now.”