Nico Rosberg left ‘really surprised’ by McLaren boss Andrea Stella’s comment after Monza

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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella faces a conundrum that every Formula 1 boss dreams of.

Against all of the odds, McLaren have two drivers – Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – who believe that not only are they good enough to win the F1 world championship, but have the machinery to do so.

They face an uphill task. Norris is 62 points behind current leader Max Verstappen and Piastri has to overcome a 106-point deficit.

Red Bull are really struggling but it would be the greatest comeback in Formula 1 history if the young Australian managed to lift the trophy at the end of the season.

It means McLaren have to come to an agreement with their drivers on how they’re going to approach the final eight race weekends of the season.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, former world champion Nico Rosberg has shared his thoughts on Andrea Stella’s most recent comments.

Rosberg knows all about feuding with a teammate to win a championship after his epic battle with Lewis Hamilton.

The difference that season was that Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel weren’t competing against the Mercedes drivers.

It means that even though Verstappen’s title defence is spluttering, McLaren have to decide if they going to back Norris or concentrate on both drivers scoring maximum points for the Constructors’ Championship.

Nico Rosberg left surprised by McLaren boss Andrea Stella’s post-Monza comments

Talking after the Italian Grand Prix where Piastri finished ahead of Norris, Stella, via BBC Sport, said: “If we can achieve both, we need to put the team and Lando in position to pursue both championships.

“Both drivers are mathematically in condition to do so but Lando is in the best position from a numbers point of view and we are fighting Max Verstappen. So if we want to give support to one driver, we have to pick the one in the best position.”

After hearing Stella’s comments, Rosberg responded: “So first of all, I’m surprised by those words from Andrea, I didn’t hear them until now.

“And I’m very surprised that he would be so clear in saying that they’re now finally considering giving priority to Lando after they clearly didn’t on Sunday.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from height and parents to celebration

“So that would be quite a change and we would obviously welcome that.

“In Lando’s situation, yeah, of course, you want to be winning races by merit and not because your teammate is helping you.

“But there is help and there’s two different, I mean, like turn four, for example, you wouldn’t necessarily see it as your teammate helping you if the team said, you know, hold position, calm things down by the time you get to turn four so that we make sure that we keep the Ferrari’s behind.

“That’s not really your teammate helping you, it’s just stopping your teammate from doing a crazy awesome move which puts everything at high risk and that’s what you want to avoid, I suppose.”

Davide Valsecchi raves about Oscar Piastri moment at Monza

Everyone was watching to see whether Norris would get off the line at Monza and finally lead the first lap of a race after starting on pole position.

After negotiating the first chicane, it appeared as though he had done so before Piastri pulled off the best overtake of the season, according to Davide Valsecchi.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

It meant Norris couldn’t get out of the Roggia chicane cleanly, Charles Leclerc took advantage and that helped him go on to win the race.

Jolyon Palmer has criticised the call McLaren made to allow Piastri to race and finish ahead of Norris.

Stella and CEO Zak Brown have to hope that if Norris doesn’t win the title, the margin is more than 10 points, otherwise they may have denied the Brit his first world championship.