'It is serious' – Stella 'disappointed' by Norris and Piastri's clash in Singapore Sprint

Andrea Stella has conceded his disappointment over the collision between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint, acknowledging "it is serious".

The Italian’s initial reaction in a TV interview with Sky Sports F1 was that the incident was “not acceptable,” while he also stressed that the interests of the team came above everything else.

An optimist who usually sees mistakes and failures as an opportunity to improve, Stella also added that it would ultimately make the papaya squad “more united and even stronger”.

Having had more time to reflect, Stella met the media in the early hours of Sunday morning in Singapore – and there proved to be only one subject on the agenda.

He was first asked about his earlier “not acceptable” comment, and if he was surprised that the collision had occurred given the strong response to previous examples.

“I worked with top drivers for so many seasons that I know that, with drivers, there's always a degree of unpredictability, let me say,” he said. “You always have to leave a little bit of margin to the fact that there may be situations. I am, if anything, disappointed.

“Disappointed as a Team Principal for a situation that is absolutely not acceptable, because it caused a material damage to the team, and every member of the team knows that the team interest comes before any personal interest, but above all is the main beacon that guides our action and our instinct.

“So not necessarily surprised, because I spent so many seasons in Formula 1, and I know that these things can happen. But we as a team need to reflect as to how we make sure that these situations do not happen anymore.”

Reminded of his earlier comment in the Sky interview that the team would come out of this event stronger, he downplayed the suggestion that he was taking a glass half full approach. Even for the always upbeat Stella, the clash carried too much negativity.

“Not necessarily I want to make, after I say that it is unacceptable, the glass look half full by saying that we want to turn the situation into something from which we learn,” he noted.

“For me, that's just a mindset. That's just what you have to do every single day, because Formula 1 is such a challenging business in many respects, that you have to have a positive, progressive mindset towards reviewing all the opportunities, and make sure that you grow as an individual, and make sure that you grow as a team.

“And when this involves the human element, there are some degrees and some elements of unpredictability that necessarily mean that you constantly have to be very open to analyse, review, and you need to have this attitude to make sure that we progress, especially when the matters involve the humans, and especially when the matters involve the drivers. So I'm not discouraged, let me say, which is different to say there's any half full glass here.

“There isn't at all. The glass is empty, because when two McLarens make contact in that way and cause a material damage, there's a significant flaw.”

Some might dismiss the Singapore incident as “only” a battle for fourth and fifth in a Sprint, and thus potentially less damaging than a similar incident when Norris and Piastri were battling for the title last season.

However, eight valuable points went astray – a not insignificant amount, given that after the Sprint McLaren are only nine ahead of Red Bull in the battle for third in the Teams’ Championship, while also eyeing Ferrari up ahead.

“It is serious,” said Stella. “It is serious, because the damage for the team is material, we are in a close fight in the championship. We had the ambition to challenge Ferrari, and this is a problem in the challenge to the second position.

“And we have an ambition to finish ahead of Red Bull, and this is a problem to finish ahead of Red Bull. And it is also serious because we come from a few seasons in which we have reflected together, team and drivers, as to how we approach racing together, and how we make sure that the interest of the team is protected.

“It is serious, but at the same time, like I said before, we approach it with a very constructive mindset, because there's only one outcome; that the team will be more united, and the team will be stronger in the way we pursue our quest, which is the drivers and the teams' quests together.”

Stella made it clear that this story didn’t necessarily end with the discussions that took place before main Qualifying.

“We had part of the conversations straight after the Sprint,” he said. “But obviously because we are within a race weekend, what you want to do is to make sure that we, team and drivers, are in the best and most functional condition to keep delivering during the weekend.

“We will have time to go through the various conversations after the race weekend, and before the race.

“But I trust because I know both drivers enough that they will keep reflecting on the episode, and I trust, and I'm pretty sure that they will extract the key learning without me having to say very much.

“So I look forward to the conversations that we will have before the race, and after the race.”

The FIA stewards decreed that “neither driver was wholly or predominantly to blame”, but for Stella there is a bigger picture.

“The aspect of apologies, fault, one driver is predominantly... Honestly, that's not the perspective I have,” he said. “And that's not the perspective I want from the drivers. I want the drivers to take the perspective and the reflection around this is how together we are going to pursue, protect, promote the interest of the team. This is the assignment.

“I'm not looking forward for any apologies. I know the drivers. They are two excellent human beings. Here is business, and as a business, I want to know, and that's the reflection that I want to keep developing, how do we work together to make sure that this does not happen anymore?

“And even more, if possible, the collaboration of the two drivers delivers the best result in the interest of the team.”