McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has defended Lando Norris after the British driver made a mistake at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Norris completed an extra formation lap after a ‘start abort’ was announced. Stella believes the British driver’s error is understandable, given the unclear situation at the time.
The Brazilian Grand Prix was chaotic from the formation lap onwards. Lance Stroll spun off the track a few hundred meters after the start line, ending up in the gravel trap at turn four before the race even started. The race directors decided to abort the start, but there was some confusion among the drivers about what exactly that meant.
Polesitter Lando Norris and George Russell began another formation lap, and were quickly followed by the rest of the Formula 1 grid. The two Brits were fined 5000 euros after the race for the incident. McLaren team boss Andrea Stella understands his driver’s confusion.
“If you look at the letter of the regulation, it’s a bit tricky, because in the extra formation round, there’s talk of delayed starts, then there’s the aborted start, and talk of returning to the grid,” explains Stella, speaking to Motorsport.com. “So there are some technical details that perhaps made the situation a bit confusing for Lando Norris. I think he was just reacting to the lights at that moment.”
Confusing Procedures
In the regulations, there are two ways in which a start is aborted. A ‘delayed start’ occurs when the drivers are already on the grid, but the formation lap has not yet begun. An ‘aborted start’ takes place when the formation lap has already begun. “All cars must then return to the grid,” according to the regulations. However, in Brazil, the drivers were already on the grid when the ‘aborted start’ occurred.
“Generally, we think this is a very innocent situation,” Stella explains. “If there is anything, it provides the opportunity to clarify a bit what you should do in these kinds of cases. Because the call came very late, when Lando had been in pole position for quite some time. If there was an aborted start, I think the circumstances were present for a long time to give it. So this confused the driver a bit.”
