Andrea Stella Asserts No Personal Grudge Against Max Verstappen Amid Controversial Austrian GP Clash

Andrea Stella reaffirms that his view on Max Verstappen is not a personal attack, yet he stands firm on his opinion. The McLaren team member has reiterated his comments regarding Verstappen's driving during the competition with Lando Norris.

McLaren F1 team leader Andrea Stella has reinforced his opinions regarding Max Verstappen's excessively aggressive driving towards Lando Norris during the Austrian Grand Prix, emphasizing that his perspective is not "personal."

In the final moments of the race at the Red Bull Ring last weekend, Verstappen and Norris clashed as they fought for the lead, which dashed their chances of winning. This allowed George Russell from Mercedes to secure a surprising victory.

Following the heated conclusion, Stella proposed that Verstappen's tactics when racing against Norris stemmed from the lack of harsher penalties for his numerous contentious incidents with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton during their thrilling 2021 championship fight.

Although Verstappen and Norris have taken steps to ensure their rivalry doesn't strain their off-track friendship, Stella still believes that the Red Bull driver was at fault.

"There are various factors to take into account," Stella stated to Sky Sports F1. "Firstly, Lando must focus on driving and moving forward. If he remains stuck in the mindset he had last week, he won't perform well at Silverstone."

"The car performs well, and we aim to take advantage of that. Lando is optimistic, and we back his perspective."

"The second point to consider is that this issue is never personal. There is no effort to create division in opinions."

"However, I must say that we invested considerable time verifying our preliminary views using data, videos, factual evidence, analysis, and GPS information. Ultimately, our initial opinions were validated."

When questioned about whether Verstappen cut in front of Norris while braking, Stella confirmed, "Absolutely. If these actions had been promptly addressed with a warning, the situation wouldn't have intensified. This is evident to the stewards."

"At this moment, it's crucial to advance, absorb all available knowledge, and enhance Formula 1's regulatory enforcement."

Stella mentioned that McLaren has not contacted Red Bull after the incident but has instead asked the FIA, the governing body of F1, for clarification.

Stella mentioned, "The FIA is actually who we're discussing this with. It's not personal; we hold Red Bull and Max in high regard and respect their accomplishments."

"We asked for explanations and found the responses from the stewards and the FIA to be satisfactory."

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