Online Reporter
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella says Lando Norris is showing more self-confidence and being rewarded with his results.
The reigning Formula One champion won Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix from pole position, his second successive victory and career 13th, but he had to earn it by passing Mercedes’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli after losing the lead at a restart.
The Briton is still 83 points off the lead but whittling away at the deficit.
“I would say that definitely he is now expressing a higher level of assertiveness,” Stella told reporters at Zandvoort.
“The manoeuvre to pass Antonelli I think is a really good demonstration of that. He is demonstrating more self-confidence. This is interesting and I quite like it, sometimes it is not demonstrated by being the most aggressive. Sometimes you are self-confident when you think like ‘you know what, I’m not going to have a fight now because I may lose in this fight. It’s a very long race, see you at the end’,”
Stella said that meant having the confidence to back off, while having faith in being able to come through in the long run. He pointed out that in Hungary and the Netherlands, Norris had lost the pole advantage but not his confidence.
“I think assertiveness and confidence are probably the two characteristics that he has improved the most from a non-technical, non-operational point of view,” added Stella.
Norris has said the new generation of cars are difficult to drive and he has had to adapt his style to accommodate that. He also gave himself plenty of credit for Sunday’s win, saying a driver could still make the difference.
Stella agreed the Briton was driving like a champion and constantly improving, a process that started early in 2025 when “something clicked”.
“I think this approach has led Lando to continuous improvements. It’s almost like I see Lando stronger and stronger race by race.”
Meanwhile, McLaren have taken a big step forward and Mercedes no longer have the quickest car in Formula One, championship leader Kimi Antonelli said after Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.
McLaren’s reigning champion Lando Norris celebrated his second win in a row from pole position at Zandvoort, with Antonelli and Mercedes teammate George Russell second and third ahead of Ferrari pair Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
“We’re clearly not the fastest car anymore on the grid,” said Antonelli, who won five races in a row earlier in the season. We’re probably second or third, at least in today’s race, and McLaren has taken a huge step, especially since Hungary, since the big upgrade package they brought.”
Norris, who lost out to Antonelli at the race restart and then had to overtake him on track, questioned that assertion however.
“I don’t think it’s true. I think if I didn’t get Kimi when I overtook him, I don’t think I would have won the race,” he said.
“For once I would give myself a little bit of credit that I feel like I’m doing a better job than everyone, and I think that can also make a difference.
“We certainly have a car now capable of beating them … but I think they have a better all-round performing car than what we do.”
Zandvoort, and Budapest’s Hungaroring before that, played to McLaren’s strengths but some of the tracks coming up may be less favourable.
Ferrari can be expected to go well at their home grand prix at Monza early next month, with upgrades in the pipeline, while Antonelli faces hefty grid penalties for an engine change.
A TOUGHER RIDE
Mercedes are still way ahead of Ferrari and McLaren in the constructors’ championship and scored more points (46 to McLaren’s 43 and Ferrari’s 31) than anyone else over the weekend. – Reuters
