Stella to biased Buxton: I think I answered already, didn't I?
F1 NewsSaturday, 02 November 2024 at 17:00
Will Buxton showed his true colours as a biased F1TV pundit when he tried to find fault in McLaren's excellent one-two in the 2024 Sao Paulo Sprint Race, in which Oscar Piastri gifted Lando Norris the win, ensuring they got the maximum out of Saturday's mini-race, outscoring Max Verstappen by two points.
Andrea Stella's team extracted the most from the Sprint Race on Saturday, in terms of 2024 F1 Constructors points they outscored their rivals and Norris narrowed the gap to 45 points from 47 to Max Verstappen in the drivers' contest. All these small points could count in the final outcome of this intriguing 2024 F1 World Championship battle. However, that was not enough for Buxton.
We at GRANDPRIX247 enjoy the F1TV commentary team in general. Buxton can be fun most of the time. But his 'Norris-questioning-rant' he went on after the Sprint today at Interlagos was way out of line for a supposedly neutral pundit, all the time trying to make something out of nothing with his aggressive questioning of the McLaren team boss.
Buxton pressed a slick and unfazed Stella throughout a very one-sided interview which we urge you to watch if you can find it out there in cyberland.
The McLaren team principal, an Italian, was superbly articulate as more than once he roasted a petulant Buxton, 'reporting' like a shill for Norris, ignoring the magnitude and the importance of the one-two achieved by Stella's F1 world champions in waiting McLaren team.
Buxton shilling for Norris?
Below is the transcript of the Buxton-Stella interview shortly after the Sao Paulo SprintRace was won by Norris thanks to Piastri's generosity:
Will Buxton: There will be some out there who ask the question of why it was left so late, and did you have to risk leaving it that late?
Andrea Stella: "Yeah, first of all, I would like to start by saying that it's very good news the McLaren one too, because we shouldn't take this kind of results for granted. We saw that the car was quickly qualifying yesterday, but confirming this in a race stint with this abrasive tarmac, and high tire degradation
"It was important in terms of the final result itself, this is the best result we can have for both championships. This was a clear conversation that we had with our two drivers, both drivers are completely supportive and cohesive of this kind of approach.
"We are in a very lucky position to have not only two number-one, fast drivers but also two great team players in terms of executing the swap. Obviously, this depends on where the others are, and the sufficient gap between the second and the third never really materializes.
"So we needed to wait. But as soon as we saw that there was a possibility of a virtual safety car or a safety car, we then executed it immediately. So I think pretty much the spring guys went according to plan. Is always a little tense. It's a Formula One competition. I would be surprised if that wasn't the case.
What deal was had between Norris and Piastri before the Sprint Race?
Buxton: "What was the agreement that you had between the drivers this morning? Because we heard the radio seemingly intimating whatever had been agreed before was not being executed as had been planned. And on the radio, we heard multiple times the call that the gap to Leclerc was sufficient, and you were happy with that gap. So why were those opportunities not taken then? And why was Lando unhappy that it wasn't executed earlier, as he seemed to suggest it should have been?
Stella: "I think there's quite a lot of subjective interpretation in your question, which is fair enough. It's your job. I respect that. But going with the numbers more objectively, I think if you swap earlier, as soon as we swapped with Oscar, Verstappen was just there, and this is a situation that we wanted to we wanted to avoid.
"It would have been very risky to swap when you have the car behind even 1.5s or something, we were ideally waiting for having a couple of seconds, which never really materialized. And also there was a bit of variation in the gaps between P2 and P3, so the situation never really stabilized consistently to execute the manoeuvre with enough margin.
"So I think it all makes sense from objective numbering and point of view. If you are a Formula 1 driver and you are second, you're always going to be a little nervous. So we deeply respect this aspect as well. But as I said before, the reality is that our conversations have always been, not only this morning, but even the previous races, extremely constructive and cohesive, and definitely is going to be the case for the remainder of the weekend and for the final part of the season.
Why did McLaren not swap the Oscar and Lando earlier?
Buxton: So why was Lando frustrated in those early laps, and why was that called the gap to Leclerc sufficient?
Stella: "I think I answered already, didn't I? When you are second you would like to get first. I'm extremely comfortable. I would be much more worried right now in this interview if Lando wasn't concerned, so happy that he is concerned. But like I said before, numbers in the end, the situation went pretty well. I would actually welcome many more of these kinds of situations like this under control and with this kind of outcome."
Buxton: It was a thrilling race, the pace of Ferrari, the pace of Red Bull, especially today for Max Verstappen. How much of a concern is that with you for the rest of the weekend? Do you think you've got much work to do on the car before qualifying?
Stella: "We have to acknowledge that Red Bull was faster today and well done to them. You know, like they seem to be struggling, but then when it's the time to deliver a result, they do it. But we know they are the world champions. Verstappen is the world champion. No surprise.
"We need to do a very good job to stay ahead of them. Let's see what we can improve moving from the sprint to the main race. And as you said, the sprints that in the past have been commented as being a little boring. Actually, they have become quite exciting, which is good for Formula 1."
Montoya: British media especially, but also the German media, controls the sport
Prior to the weekend and the abovementioned interview, Juan Pablo Montoya shed light on biased 'patriotic reporting' in Formula 1: “Look at me, I did F1 and hated it. It was too political for me. Something Max said recently summed it all up for me. He said, ‘I have the wrong passport.’ That is so true.
“He was alluding to the fact that the British media especially but also the German media controls the sport and how it is portrayed in the media. For me it was difficult. I was Colombian and the two seats I got in F1 were as replacements for British drivers, Button and Coulthard. Some British media hated me with their guts. You could see it. That always made it hard.
“The other thing was I had Ralf Schumacher as a teammate and I was the only guy who was making his brother’s life miserable. When you have mainstream media from those two countries, it makes it hard. Everything that we read is biased against Max.
“If you read what the Dutch press says, it will be a very different story. They’d probably be saying Lando is a wuss and should have been more aggressive. We never hear the other side of the story because we don’t read the Dutch media. For the world, the Dutch media is irrelevant," explained Montoya who raced in F1 until the 2006 United States Grand Prix, walking out of the McLaren team at the time.
Latest News
Loading
