McLaren’s team manager Andrea Stella demanded perhaps a deeper reflection on the close relationship between the teams after the Singapore race.
Sunday’s Formula 1 Singapore GP brought McLaren and its top driver To Lando Norris a brilliant result when Norris drove to victory by defeating Red Bull Max Verstappen’s. At the same time, Verstappen’s lead over Norris in World Championship points narrowed to 52 points.
One point was missed by Norris, however, when the RB team was last in the race Daniel Ricciardo took the fastest lap of the race from Norris. Ricciardo, who drove perhaps the last F1 race of his career, went to the pits to change new tires and drove the fastest time on his last lap. Ricciardo did not get a point, because it is given for the fastest lap only if the driver reaches the top 10.
RB, or Racing Bulls, is Red Bull’s sister team. McLaren team manager Andrea Stella demanded, after the race in Singapore, perhaps a deeper reflection on the close relationship between the stables, reports among other things Autosport.
– This is an important matter from the point of view of the sporting spirit. I don’t know the facts, I just saw RB chasing the fastest lap and getting it. But when we talk about the spirit of sports, that kind of thing was perhaps inappropriate… We have to discuss the matter, the fact that the teams operate in a completely independent way. This has to be done, Stella stated according to Autosport.
Stella emphasized that he cannot say that RB went for the fastest lap to help Red Bull. However, he considered the case to be special.
– I was surprised that RB’s biggest goal in Singapore was to get the fastest lap of the race. We have to work so that that point doesn’t decide this (championship), Stella was still spinning and added that he was happy that Ricciardo got one more fastest lap in his career statistics.
Norris, who lost his face, didn’t belittle the matter, but stated that Red Bull and RB acted “smartly” and “logically”. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner on the other hand, said that the explanation in the case belongs to RB. Red Bull had certainly thought about it in the sense that they considered inviting the second driver by Sergio Perez for a tire change to grab the fastest lap from Norris.
– I don’t know what happened there. I think the team talked about it, but when it was resolved, we didn’t do anything, Horner said.
RB team manager Laurent Mekies explained the incident According to ESPN With the possible end of Ricciardo’s career.
– Since this could be Daniel’s last race, we wanted to give him the opportunity to enjoy it and set the fastest lap.