Ted Kravitz suspects Andrea Stella had surprise message for Oscar Piastri in McLaren talks before Austrian Grand Prix

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McLaren held talks with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri before the Austrian Grand Prix to review the collision between the two drivers in Canada. Norris was penalised for the incident late in the race.

Norris tried to squeeze through too small a gap on the pit straight and tagged the back of Piastri’s car. That sent him into the barriers and ended his race.

The stewards handed Norris, who was still classified, a five-second penalty for causing the collision. The British driver immediately apologised on the radio.

While the team routinely debrief races at their base in Woking, the meetings before Austria clearly took on an extra significance. Piastri and Norris are battling for the world championship, with 22 points separating them.

Andrea Stella may have taken issue with Oscar Piastri’s defending at Austrian Grand Prix

Speaking on his ‘Podbook’ from Spielberg, Sky Sports presenter Ted Kravitz suggested that Andrea Stella didn’t lay the blame entirely with Norris. That was the ‘impression he got’ after the chequered flag in Montreal.

The Italian seemed to feel that Piastri was overly aggressive in defending the inside line. He may therefore have told the 24-year-old to leave his teammate more room in the future.

There’s no indication that McLaren will change their approach this weekend. Both drivers will be free to race, although another incident in the near future could naturally prompt a policy review.

“You thought that perhaps Andrea Stella was warning Piastri?” Craig Slater asked. “He maybe thought Piastri’s defence was interesting.

Kravitz replied: “A little bit stout. Unnecessarily stout. That was the impression I got from Andrea Stella after the race, when I felt that he hinted that they will have a discussion about it, and whether Piastri had to defend quite so hard, and race each other quite so hard, given that they are teammates.

“Piastri did nothing wrong, but I just wonder whether Stella would have had a little line for Piastri in there, saying ‘if this does happen again, you could maybe help [to avoid an incident]’.”

McLaren may regret what they told Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris before crash

Ralf Schumacher thinks McLaren have already backed Piastri for the championship, but refused to acknowledge it in public. They will hope to build a big enough lead over Max Verstappen that the team orders discussion peters out.

That’s part of what made the Canadian GP tangle problematic. Verstappen gained 18 points on Norris and is now only 21 behind the top two.

In the view of F1TV pundit Jolyon Palmer, McLaren have let Norris ‘off the hook’. They had been saying for months that a moment like this was inevitable.

In doing so, they ‘diminished the fear’ surrounding an incident between teammates. Relations between the two drivers still appear to be good, but perhaps there will now be a change in the team’s messaging.