Stella: Verstappen and Red Bull are ruining their reputation

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is extremely upset about the incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, also because everyone lost the chance to witness the exciting end to the Austrian Grand Prix.

Question: The stewards have decided that Max Verstappen should be held responsible for the Lando Norris incident, but perhaps you heard his reaction? He said it was ‘ridiculous’, and Red Bull agreed with him, believing Lando was also partly responsible for what happened. What do you say to this?
Andrea Stella: I will say this: according to these people, the entire population of the world is always responsible for everything except them. But the problem is that if strict measures are not taken in such cases, all this will repeat itself. Today, these people behaved again as they did in their time when Verstappen was competing with Lewis Hamilton.

You can only learn to fight correctly on the court and follow the rules if you punish violations more severely.

Q: Are you talking about the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix?
Andrea Stella: There were many such episodes. The fact is that we have enormous respect for Red Bull Racing and Max, and there is absolutely no need for them to behave this way. What is this for? They are ruining their reputation!

Q: But this is just the style in which Max races. Once Michael Schumacher acted in a similar way…
Andrea Stella: I believe that in such episodes the stewards have stated more than once that Max is to blame for the incidents, so the point here is not at all about a special approach of Max to racing, but about the fact that you have to fight on the ground. follow in accordance with the rules. And it is necessary to force riders to comply with the rules in an effective manner.

If an incident causes a car to stop, the penalty should be proportionate to the consequences. Before the collision, there were two more episodes where Max changed gears while braking.

I think it is obvious that there should be stricter checks on compliance with the rules, if only because we just want to enjoy the great battle on the track.

Q: Do you think Lando had a chance to win, considering Red Bull was already having problems?
Andrea Stella: Even if Lando had been ahead of Max, he could have counter-attacked by using DRS, as the effect of this system on the Austrian circuit is very powerful. In reality we lost the chance to see the exciting end of the race. I’m not sure Lando would have been able to create a gap, and the fight would most likely have gone all the way to the finish. It’s a shame we’ll never know how it all could have turned out.

Question: Was the damage to Lando’s car too severe to allow him to continue the race?
Andrea Stella: Yes, the car was badly damaged, so I had to withdraw from the race.