Andrea Stella was full of praise for his star driver, Lando Norris, lately. The McLaren boss believes that Norris can be compared with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, even though the British driver is yet to win a title.
Talking about this, Stella revealed as per FormulaPassion, “When it comes to natural speed, Norris can compete with some of these big names like Schumacher and Alonso.”
After debuting in F1 back in 2019, this is Norris’ fifth year in the sport. The British driver, in these five years, failed to win any title. However, that does not keep the 24-year-old behind the top talents of the sport though, as per Stella. Even when he is compared to the seven-time world champion Schumacher or two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
Admittedly, the reason behind Stella’s appraisal of Norris is largely due to the capability of the British driver. The McLaren star showed incredible potential and delivered the finest performances with multiple podiums when he was given a competitive car.
This simply means if Norris is given a car similar to that of Red Bull RB-19, he won’t take much time to be the primary championship contender and a dire opposition to Max Verstappen. Ironically, the British team was almost on the verge of losing him, as confessed by the driver himself.
Lando Norris was about to leave McLaren
Lando Norris is undoubtedly the most sought-after driver in McLaren. Even though Oscar Piastri has impressed everyone with his performance, Norris is regarded as a world championship contender with the right car.
However, the Briton was once about to leave the Papayas to look for better opportunities and switch sides. So much so that there were talks about the 24-year-old signing for Red Bull after the Austrian team showed ample interest due to Norris’ magnificent race craft.
Red Bull has been struggling to find a strong second driver alongside Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo left the Austrian team in 2018. Therefore, Norris’ name came out to be the strongest amongst everyone to take the prestigious seat. This also received an impetus after Verstappen and Norris’ close bonding came out in public. However, the young Briton turned every chance down and decided to put his allegiance with the Woking-based team.
McLaren needs to give Lando Norris a car to compete against Max Verstappen for the world championship. If this does not happen anytime soon, Zak Brown and his team could lose the fine talent in the name of Norris in the near future.
