McLaren boss makes eye-catching comparison to past F1 greats

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are performing at the same level as several Formula 1 world champions he has worked with in the past.

The McLaren duo have emerged as the lead contenders for the 2025 title, having finished first and second in nearly half the races so far this year.

While the MCL39’s pace has been a key factor, both drivers have made the most of their opportunities, extending their advantage to third-placed Max Verstappen to 81 points.

Their performances have earned the praise of team boss Stella, who served as the performance engineer for Michael Schumacher during his golden years in early 2000s before becoming the race engineer for two more champions in Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.

After joining McLaren in 2015, he was reacquainted with Alonso, while also getting a chance to work with 2009 F1 champion Jenson Button.

McLaren boss makes eye-opening comparison

The Italian believes Norris and Piastri have been performing at such a high level that he feels it is fair to compare them with some other elite drivers he previously worked with.

“We have two drivers, which to the standards that even myself in my career I've been close to, driving with multiple world champions,” said Stella.

“I think Lando and Oscar are operating at that level, at the level of deservedly being in contention for the Drivers' World Championship."

Piastri has generally been the stronger of the two McLaren drivers this season, but Norris has mounted a strong challenge in recent weeks, scoring back-to-back wins in Austria and Britain.

The two drivers are split by just 16 points in the standings, with Piastri currently sitting at the top of the table.

"There is very, very little between our two drivers, and this is because the two drivers are racing at a very, very high level," said Stella.

"We are lucky at McLaren to have two drivers that deservedly are fighting for the world championship. I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution. We saw in Silverstone that an issue, a sporting issue for Oscar during the Safety Car start and the consequent penalty cost him the race.

"And somehow here, we saw that somehow related to the circuit characteristic like we said before, it would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the Safety Car restart."