Italian Grand Prix: Norris-Piastri title fight ‘refuses to get nasty, even when McLaren create own controversy’

What’s remarkable about all this is the equanimity with which McLaren’s drivers are dealing with this specific situation, and the wider championship battle.

It speaks to their particular characters, but also how much Stella has managed to get the whole McLaren team to buy into his culture.

It’s a culture – and leadership – that in two short years has turned the team from low-midfield runners at the start of 2023, just after Stella took over, into constructors’ world champions last year, and now the dominant force in F1 this year.

Racing drivers are in a unique position. They are competitive athletes out for personal success. But they are dependent on their team for the machinery with which they will achieve it.

Usually, in F1, those two, powerful opposing forces are what create the on-track drama and off-track tension between team-mates contesting a title.

This happened with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, Piastri’s manager Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at McLaren, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at McLaren, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet at Williams, and so on.

Stella’s achievements at McLaren are multi-faceted. But managing to control this is certainly among the most remarkable.

Both drivers have bought into this.

As Piastri said: “We don’t want the chance of success just for this year. There’s a big regulation change next year. We don’t know how competitive we’re going to be, and we don’t know how competitive anyone’s going to be.

“Ultimately, we want the best chance at winning championships for as long as we’re Formula 1 drivers, and we’re both at McLaren for a very long time.

“Protecting the people around us that give us this opportunity is a very important thing. It’s easy enough to put yourself second at times like that.”

Norris added: “That was beautiful. He said it well. I don’t need to add any more.”

Before the race, there was another – much less publicised and obvious example of this.

In qualifying, Piastri was asked by the team to give Norris a tow in the second session. At the time, Norris was in danger of being knocked out – which would have meant qualifying out of the top 10 and giving Piastri a massive helping hand in the championship.

But Piastri agreed without hesitation.

Afterwards, Stella was asked whether he would accept it if that sort of thing stopped happening as the title fight came to a climax.

He said: “I would consider it relatively, potentially not the most elegant move. But sometimes racing doesn’t necessarily require elegance as long as you operate within the principles and the rules of the team.”