Stella explains McLaren team orders drama in Hungary (2024)

McLaren boss Andrea Stella says that far from being upset with Lando Norris’ initial refusal to follow instructions from the pit wall and let his team mate past for victory on Sunday, he would have been “very concerned” had the Brit simply waved Oscar Piastri through without a word of complaint.

Pole-sitter Norris dropped behind team mate Oscar Piastri when Sunday’s encounter at the Hungaroring got under way, with the Australian managing to build a comfortable advantage and maintain the lead through the opening round of pit stops.

READ MORE > MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: Why did McLaren pit Norris before Piastri – and did they really need to?

However, with McLaren later feeling threatened by the power of the undercut from cars behind, they elected to bring Norris in for fresh tyres before Piastri during the second sequence of stops – leading to the two cars swapping positions given the pace offset.

Piastri was told by his race engineer not to worry about the development, with Norris being asked to move aside and relinquish P1 given that he had gained it in the pit lane, only for the Briton to initially question the call and show some reluctance.

Eventually, via several pleas from engineer Will Joseph that included being reminded about McLaren’s pre-race meetings, Norris backed off and allowed Piastri through, but it was a moment that sparked plenty of debate amongst onlookers.

In an interview with Sky Sports F1 shortly after the chequered flag, McLaren team boss Stella was asked for more details on what is discussed in those Sunday meetings and whether he was concerned Norris might not give up the place.

“I think there was a little bit more than that single comment and message from Will,” replied Stella. “There’s an entire approach to racing that we have with our drivers – team and drivers.

READ MORE: ‘I know what Oscar’s done for me’ – Norris gives his take on ‘tough’ moment he let Piastri past in Hungary

“We are in this trajectory together. None of us, the team, Lando, Oscar, can go alone. That’s the message. That’s the message that we discussed on Sunday morning. With race drivers, you need to refresh this message, that’s why we have this meeting every Sunday.

“We are extremely pleased by how our drivers are supporting the trajectory of McLaren, which is incredible. For me, that’s the news today.

“The message is that there’s a P1 and P2 in qualifying, P1 and P2 in the race. I would like to thank and praise all the work of the men and women at McLaren to make this possible.”

Stella went on to discuss Norris’s determination to challenge Red Bull rival Max Verstappen for the championship and how McLaren will manage the situation between their drivers moving forward.

Norris remains second in the drivers’ standings, 76 points behind reigning world champion Verstappen, with team mate Piastri a further 40 points adrift in fifth position.

READ MORE: Piastri admits McLaren team orders made him ‘a bit nervous’ as he reflects on ‘very special’ maiden win in Hungary

“I think I don’t know any race driver that when he is leading a race would be happy to say, ‘Oh yeah, of course, why don’t we swap back the position to the previous order?’ That’s not possible, that’s not the nature of the drivers,” Stella commented.

“I would be extremely worried, you would see here me very concerned, if Lando would say so. I think that’s why we needed to recall our principles, that’s why we recalled the principles on Sunday morning.

“I think it’s true that for a driver, if we want to be competitive in the championship, for Lando in particular [who] is in the stronger position, he will need the support of Oscar, he will need the support of the team. I think that’s how we are moving forward.”