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In a stellar rookie season last year, Piastri achieved the feat to a certain degree by winning the Qatar sprint as the Australian excelled around the Losail International Circuit in Doha, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just under two seconds, with Norris third.
A grand prix win eluded McLaren, however, despite a resurgence in performance following the application of major upgrades in Austria and Singapore, with Piastri runner-up in Qatar, whilst Norris was second on six occasions.
For his second season in F1, the pressure will increase on Piastri, who is certainly expected to finish closer than the 108-point deficit he faced to Norris at the end of last year.
As to the possible headache Stella would face if Piastri does beat Norris to a grand prix win, he said: “About Oscar getting his first victory, and you talked about a headache, my reaction was ‘A headache?’ Wow! I look forward to it.”
Speaking to select media, including Speedcafe, at the livery launch of this year’s MCL38, he added: “It will be an incredible result considering what we saw last year with Red Bull when there wasn’t really much space left for anybody else.
“So if we have a victory from Oscar, that will be an incredible emotion, and an incredible emotion for Lando as well because it would mean we have a car that can win races.
“And if I project myself for a second into Lando’s head, I think I would recognise how fair a competitor he (Piastri) is. He is a very fair person.
“And he would ask himself, ‘What do I need to do better to do the same as Oscar has been able to do?'”
Last season was undoubtedly Norris’ best in F1, certainly from Austria onwards with an upgraded car, going on to score more points from that race than any of his rivals, with the obvious exception of Verstappen.
But after 104 race starts, the Briton is still waiting to make his way onto the top step of the podium, notably missing out on a victory again in the 2018 Italian Grand Prix when beaten by then McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Stella has no doubt, though, that a more experienced Norris would continue to react in the right way.
“It’s ultimately about processing opportunities,” said Stella. “This game is not only about how good you are today, but how much you improve every day.
“If we look at the champions in Formula 1, certainly, Verstappen is not the same driver as he was last year or in 2021, and certainly not the driver he was when he started.
“It’s all about continuous improvement, and this is definitely the way I see Lando processing that situation.
“But that’s also the way Oscar would process it if we see how grounded is. He would have his own way of reacting to the victory, and he would think, ‘How can I consolidate this?’
“For me, the message to the drivers has always been ‘What can you do to improve every day?'”
