McLaren boss defends Norris: 'He's world champion material despite setbacks'
Lando Norris is regarded as world champion material, and any shortcomings in his performance can be attributed to McLaren's operational faults, asserted team boss Andrea Stella on Friday amid the driver's self-criticism.
Upon arriving at the Dutch Grand Prix, Norris expressed to reporters his belief that he was not performing at the caliber expected of a world champion. Despite this self-assessment, the 24-year-old Briton stands second in the drivers' standings, trailing Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen by 78 points with 10 races remaining.
Andrea Stella emphasized that Norris holds himself to a standard of perfection, often viewing his performance pessimistically. However, Stella noted that it is typical, even for champions, to have races that fall short of their own expectations.
"In reality, I think he definitely has the potential of a world champion and he's performing at world championship level," said the Italian, who has previously worked at Ferrari with legends Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.
"Lando is definitely world championship material. He performs already at levels that are seen in the past in some of the great champions I have had the luck to work with."
"He can win world championships. That's a statement, that's capital letters."
Stella noted that Norris has been taking responsibility for decisions, particularly in Canada and at Silverstone, where the blame should ideally lie on the team’s shoulders.
"If the team had operated at higher standards then Lando would have more points in the championship," declared the Italian.
"As a team, we kind of appreciate that he puts some of the pressure on himself or he raises his hand and says it was on me, but I think I have enough experience to say 'Mate, don't worry, that's on the team, keep doing the good job, keep working to improve on your own opportunities'."
"But definitely we as a team have quite a lot of work to do as well."
Currently, McLaren ranks second in the constructors' standings, trailing Red Bull by 42 points.
"Numerically, from a driver's championship point of view, it looks like there's a big gap to fill and we are chasing Max Verstappen, so definitely he's not going to make it easy for us," said Stella.
"But we are excited to be in this position, and definitely Lando is not in this position because somebody helped him. Lando is in this position because he performs very strongly, and that's something that we should acknowledge and realise."
As the season progresses, Norris continues to demonstrate his potential as a world champion, with both individual drive and team improvements pivotal in bridging the gap to Verstappen and Red Bull.
