"He’s the producer of the set": Lando Norris showers special praise on newly appointed McLaren personnel

Lando Norris has showered special praise on principal Andrea Stella for McLaren's success in 2023. In what appeared to be a surprise move at the start of the season, prinoipal Andreas Seidl switched teams and moved to Sauber as a CEO.

That prompted change at the top for McLaren as well, and Stella got the job. The season had proved to be a very impressive one for the team and its new principal. After switching plans about developing the car, the team introduced a relatively revamped car during the season and turned the formbook on its head.

After spending many races at the back of the grid, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri became frontrunners since the Silverstone GP. The team also made massive gains and ended the season fourth in the championship, ahead of Aston Martin.

Looking back at the season and praising Stella, who led the team through the transition, Norris termed the principal the director of everything, telling the media, including PlanetF1:

“I’d say a big thanks to him. Everything isn’t just on him: you’ve got to thank a lot of other people in the team, because they’re the ones who have done a lot of the work.

"Andrea is just the director of it all. He’s the producer of the set, and everyone else is the cast, but you need everyone to work together very well, and that’s what they’re doing."

He added:

"He’s done an amazing job. I’m very, very happy with having him where he is. He still does a lot for the team every single weekend in terms of racing and qualifying and all of that. I couldn’t ask for a better team principal.”

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Lando Norris confident of winning a race next season

When asked how confident he feels about his chances of winning his first race with McLaren, Lando Norris responded:

“One-hundred per cent, it’s going to be next year, and I’m with McLaren next year.

"If there’s ever a time in my life over the last five years I want to be a bit more confident, it’s probably going into ’24 because we just need to start the season off well."

He added:

"This year, we started off terribly, and we’ve still ended up being very, very strong, so if we can start the season a little bit strong at least, then I think it can be a great year.”

Lando Norris will hope to put together an even stronger run next season and fight for the title if the team can close the gap with Red Bull.