F1 star who has never won a race 'can compete' with Schumacher and Alonso
Lando Norris has the "natural speed" to match some of the the greatest drivers Formula 1 has ever seen, his boss believes.
Andrea Stella worked with a wide range of superstars over many years at Ferrari. In an interview with F1's Beyond the Grid podcast, Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso were the three specifically put to him.
Now team principal at McLaren, he believes in British racer Norris he has another outrageous talent at his disposal. "I think the ingredients for Lando to be able to succeed, like these drivers have been able to succeed, are coming together," said the Italian.
"When it is about natural speed, I think Lando can compete with some of these big names like Schumacher or Fernando Alonso. The real success factor is in making the race craft bigger and bigger – creating, as much as possible, adaptability, because you're never going to have the perfect car. You're never going to have the perfect situation.
"It can happen. We want to succeed even when there's a 50/50 probability to do that, then you want to make the difference through your continuous improvement, adaptability, understanding the situation better than your competitors, and gaining a competitive advantage.
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"Definitely, Lando is on a very strong path from this point of view and I think the evidence is that as soon as we gave him a car that was able to compete for podiums, he just achieved it. He's clearly there. I think, if anything, it's more on us now to give him the machinery to be able to capitalise on his own qualities."
Norris will take part in his 100th F1 Grand Prix weekend in Austin. Yet, he hasn't won on any of the previous 99 occasions despite being widely regarded as a potential future world champion. That, Stella insists, is on the team for not giving him the car he needs to match his talent.
Asked if he thinks there is any frustration from Norris over the fact he has yet to break his duck, the McLaren chief replied: "I could give a political, diplomatic answer here and say, 'Oh no, you know, he's doing so well, no frustration'. But then I would say, 'What kind of driver is this? These guys, they compete since they are a young child, they have this natural inclination and ambition to win, not only to be fast.
"It's something that is very deeply programmed in their DNA. So, having been close to winning races and not having been able to do it, or having this clear ambition and realising that you're not going to compete for points, like what happened at the start of the season, it must create quite a significant blackout in this natural white framing that these kind of drivers have.
"I would be surprised if there were no hints at all. I would say, 'This is a robot', or, 'He's lying to us'. We don't want him to be a robot and we don't want him to lie to us. We need to be natural and we can cope with it. What makes the difference is that he kept being functional, constructive, and instrumental to the progress of the team. That's the real difference.
"It's not to suppress or negate your ambition, your feelings. They are the engine, they are the energy that drives our continuous improvement. It's how functionally you approach them, especially when you are part of a team, that makes the difference, and that's what has made the difference in the respect and the authority that Lando has gained in the team for his own behaviour."
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