Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be stronger for Baku setback – McLaren boss

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will come back stronger from a troubled weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.

Championship leader Piastri crashed out of both qualifying and the race in Baku, throwing the door wide open to title rival Norris.

But the British driver started only seventh after a scruffy final run in qualifying and that is where he finished as his McLaren lacked the pace to progress through the field.

It means Norris could take only six points out of Piastri’s lead – cutting it to 25 – with Stella accepting that he missed an opportunity in qualifying.

“On Lando’s side, if we just look with the lens of the drivers’ championship, obviously this was an opportunity to gain some points – possibly it might have been yesterday in qualifying,” Stella said after Sunday’s race.

“And I think actually Lando had a good race. He stayed out of trouble, he was clean, but there was not enough pace.

“From a driving point of view, we are completely happy that Lando has delivered to the limit of what was available today in the car.

“So a weekend of learning for Oscar and six points gained for Lando.”

Max Verstappen charged to a dominant lights-to-flag victory to close within 69 points of Piastri with seven rounds remaining.

“Max is definitely in the competition and we look forward to races in which we can, if anything, try and push Max back again,” Stella added.

Piastri has been flawless throughout the campaign but an error-strewn weekend was capped off with a terrible race.

Having crashed in Q3 on Saturday, he jumped the start from ninth on the grid before anti-stall kicked in and he dropped to the back of the pack.

He then locked up and crashed nose-first into the barriers at turn five, ending a 34-race finishing streak.

Stella is confident that pressure did not play a part in an uncharacteristically disappointing weekend.

“A one-off for what has been probably the most solid driver in this season,” the Italian added.

“I’ve worked with multi-champion drivers and in a season, every season, even one of the best drivers in the history of Formula One – like Michael Schumacher – I have seen events like this, events in which the most you take away is the learning.

“I’ve already had a chat with Oscar and his mind is already fully-functional, already into ‘That’s what I’ve learned, I look forward to the next one’.

“I think one of the strongest features of Oscar is how rapidly he learns, how rapidly he improves and how he can come back stronger.

“That’s why he’s been so successful in every category. And I think that’s exactly what will happen in his Formula One career and we will see it in the remainder of the season.”