Andrea Stella says the ‘elbows out’ racing is good headline for media to write articles about, as McLaren focuses on racing fairly to see the chequered flag.
After the small scuffle between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at Turn 1 in F1 Saudi Arabian GP, where the Australian held his ground against the Dutchman, who had to take the run-off route to keep the lead, the topic of ‘elbows out’ was put forward to McLaren team boss Stella.
Verstappen was handed 5s time penalty for his move, as certain section praised Piastri for holding fort against Verstappen, who is a tough but to crack. Lando Norris had it hard against the Dutchman in 2024, considering how ruthless the Red Bull driver is when it comes to close racing.
But Stella is not for ‘elbows out’ in racing which he thinks is a good line for a headline, but McLaren’s ethos is more about fair racing which is within the regulations. There is no point in racing in a way where you maybe right or be the quickest, but don’t see the chequered flag due to aggression.
“Well, the all elbows out is a metaphor which I think works very well when we have to create a narrative, like for an article,” said Sella to media. “And fair enough, even myself as a F1 fan would like to read an article with elbows out. But this kind of narrative, when we come to actually programming drivers in terms of their mindset, the approach of the team, that’s not how you look at things.
“You want to race within the regulations, you want to race in a clear way, you want to race maximising what you have available. We always say when we discuss our objectives before the race, we want to see the chequered flag. There’s no point in being right and not seeing the chequered flag. There’s no point in being right and not seeing the chequered flag.
“So that’s the way we go racing. I think we race in a very fair way. And the elbows out is a narrative that is not part of our internal conversations, nor do I think it should be part of the way the drivers go racing. It’s tough, like I said before, it’s tough racing. But it needs to be fair racing and within the regulations,” summed up Stella.
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Here’s Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and co on Saudi Arabian GP