Lando Norris’ dominance of the 2025 Formulation 1 Mexico Grand Prix stemmed from the observe suiting his driving model, reckons McLaren workforce boss Andrea Stella.
The long-time McLaren racer by no means misplaced place to win from pole on Sunday on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, that means he took the F1 2025 championship lead with 4 rounds remaining.
That’s as a result of erstwhile chief Oscar Piastri solely completed fifth within the sister McLaren, because the Australian struggled to deal with the high-altitude, low-grip nature of the Mexico circuit.
It causes the automobiles to slip so much via corners and Stella stated this suited Norris, who leads Piastri by a degree having reclaimed a championship lead that he misplaced at April’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“These particular low-grip situations, they match completely,” stated Stella of Norris, who ended McLaren’s five-race winless streak. “It is a pure manner of extracting lap time, which is sort of reverse to Oscar’s traits.
“It would simply strengthen Lando’s confidence and it is going to be vital for the ultimate 4 races. However I believe each Lando and Oscar go into the ultimate 4 races with causes to be assured.
“I believe the workforce additionally goes into the ultimate 4 races with extra understanding of methods to extract efficiency from the automobile persistently, as a result of over the previous couple of races earlier than Mexico, at occasions, we’ve left some efficiency within the storage.”
Lando Norris, McLaren, Andrea Stella, McLaren
Picture by: Andy Hone/ LAT Photos through Getty Photos
This marks a far cry from the remainder of the yr, as Norris had repeatedly acknowledged his struggles to push the MCL39 to its restrict. That has notably been seen in qualifying, as Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen holds probably the most pole positions this yr with seven, in comparison with 5 for each McLaren drivers.
However a breakthrough second got here in a post-Singapore debrief simply two rounds earlier than Mexico, as McLaren and Norris sought to learn how the MCL39 may very well be arrange extra to his liking.
It will definitely led to the tenth grand prix victory of the 25-year-old’s profession. Mexico was additionally probably the most statistically dominant win of any driver since Verstappen in Hungary two years in the past, as Norris completed 30s forward of runner-up Charles Leclerc – 4 seconds shy of the Dutchman’s profitable margin in Budapest.
Stella was not shocked by Norris’ efficiency although, given he has proven comparable tempo prior to now having received from pole on seven events now.
“Once we have a look at Lando’s current years, we’ve seen a weekend with this degree of dominance additionally in another venues,” stated Stella. “Final yr, we noticed it in Zandvoort, we noticed it in Singapore. So, it is not the primary time, I believe, that Lando reveals performances at this degree.
“Right here [in Mexico], he was very convincing. I believe he was simply basically quickest in each single session. He was in a position to capitalise on the efficiency and the energy of the automobile.”
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