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The 2021 championship fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was especially bitter and was only resolved in controversial circumstances on the final lap of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Prior to that point there were a number of incidents between the two protagonists, which Stella suggested weren’t dealt with appropriately at the time.
In Austria last weekend, Verstappen and Lando Norris crashed into one another while battling for the lead in the final stages.
The Red Bull Racing driver argued that his rival was divebombing in his attempts to pass, while the McLaren pilot claimed the championship leader was moving under brakes.
It made contact almost inevitable as the battle intensified in the closing laps, ending Norris’ race and dropping Verstappen from the lead to fifth – a position that remained unchanged even after the application of a 10-second penalty.
“We don’t want to see another 2021,” Stella said in relation to the potential fall out from the clash.
“I thought that was not a good point in Formula 1 racing. It might have been entertaining, but not for the good reasons.”
Norris has emerged as a genuine challenger to Verstappen, who maintains a healthy 81-point advantage.
To reel that in, Norris needs to out-score the Dutchman by more than six points at every race until the end of the season. Under the current points structure, the gap from first to second (without bonus points for fastest lap) is seven points.
The championship battle aside, Stella argues that clash at the Red Bull Ring offers an opportunity for the FIA to tighten up some of its practices.
“For me, it’s a big shame that we didn’t see the last six, seven laps, because they would have been quite entertaining,” he said.
“And they are not entertaining because simply the rules were not enforced.
“It would have been enough to give Max the warning, like a white and black flag, don’t do it again, and he would have been much more prudent in closing the door on Lando.”
However, after calling for a tighter application of one rule, he suggested a relaxation for another.
Norris picked up a time penalty for track limits after breaching them on four occasions, the last instance after he skated long while attempting to pass Verstappen.
“If the track limit is because you’re trying to overtake somebody and you lock a little bit, then I’m wondering what kind of racing are we going to have if this is enforced in this way,” Stella quizzed.
“Drivers will not even attempt to overtake because ‘oh, it will cost me one of the three strikes I have available.’”
He went on to argue Verstappen’s claim that Norris was divebombing him in an attempt to pass.
“I think Lando going for the inside, it’s like he goes in a gap that exists, and if not conditioned to make it, will go long,” Stella observed.
“If he is really diving, like a bomb, he’s not going to be able to hold the racing line.
“If he doesn’t hold the racing line, the car that is on the outside is going to have the inside, and he’s going to accelerate much faster and he’s going to hold the position.
“If the car that is going on the inside is able to hold the racing line, then that’s not a bomb.
“Crossing the lines is one of the most frequent manoeuvres in case of overtaking.
“The layout of corner three sort induces drivers to attempt these kind of manoeuvres, but it’s not like Lando was… bomb means there’s violence, there’s an explosion, there’s some contact.
“Nowhere near were Lando’s manoeuvres going to cause this kind of outcome.”
Ultimately it was the aggression of the battle that stood out, with neither Verstappen not Norris willing to concede an inch.
The problem, in Stella’s eyes, is that matters were allowed to escalate as they did, which he believes is the result of the rules not being applied previously.
“If you don’t address things as soon as you introduce competition, as soon as you introduce a sense of injustice, these things escalate,” he reasoned.
“I think here there was an incomplete job that comes from the past, and there’s a legacy that as soon as there was a trigger, immediately became a case that escalated.
“This episode [on Sunday] should be taken as an opportunity to tighten up, to plump up the boundaries and, in fairness, enforcing some of the rules which are already in place.
“But we need to be very clear that these rules cannot be abused in a way that then leaves margin to do a couple of times the same manoeuvre and, you know what, the third time there’s going to be an accident – of course, even statistically there’s going to be an accident.
“For me, what’s important is that this is now taken as an opportunity for the FIA, for the sport, so that we can in the future hopefully enjoy more of these battles, which means that McLaren is in condition to race Red Bull know that this is not going to end up with a collision.
“For us, there’s a lot of points gone, and a victory which I think Lando deserved to have the opportunity to have – it could have been Max, it could have been Lando, that’s racing, but racing like [in Austria], we don’t like it.”
