Stella: Norris is definitely F1 world champion material

Stella was reacting to Norris telling reporters, on his arrival at the Dutch Grand Prix, that he felt he was not performing at the level of a F1 world champion. The 24-year-old McLaren driver is second in the 2024 F1 drivers' standings but 78 points behind Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen with 10 races remaining.

Stella said Norris was measuring himself against perfection and tended to see the half-empty part of the glass, but it was normal even for champions to have races where they could have done better.

"In reality, I think he definitely has the potential of a world champion, and he's performing at world championship level," said the Italian, who worked previously at Ferrari with greats Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.

"Lando is definitely world championship material. He performs already at levels that are seen in the past in some of the great champions I have the luck to work with. He can win world championships. That's a statement; that's capital letters."

Stella said Norris took responsibility for calls, particularly in Canada and at Silverstone, which the team should really be blaming themselves for.

"If the team had operated at higher standards, then Lando would have more points in the championship," conceded the Italian. "As a team, we kind of appreciate that he puts some of the pressure on himself or he raises his hand and says it was on me.

"I think I have enough experience to say, 'Mate, don't worry, that's on the team. Keep doing the good job. Keep working to improve on your own opportunities.' But definitely we as a team have quite a lot of work to do as well," added Stella, whose McLaren team are second in the F1 constructors' standings, 42 points behind Red Bull.

Stella explained: "Numerically, from a driver's championship point of view, it looks like there's a big gap to fill and we are chasing Max Verstappen, so definitely he's not going to make it easy for us.

"But we are excited to be in this position, and definitely Lando is not in this position because somebody helped him. Lando is in this position because he performs very strongly, and that's something that we should acknowledge and realise," added the McLaren Team Principal.

Norris was at the sharp end of proceedings all day on Friday, in FP2 he was fourth fastest and sure to be a pole position contender on Saturday at Zandvoort.

After practice, Lando reflected: “A pleasing first day back on track. We made some good progress, and the car is in a strong position ahead of Quali. It’s close towards the front of the pack, so we’ll be working hard overnight as a team to get everything out of our package.”