Aside from a minor skirmish during the Italian Grand Prix when the duo touched wheels, the first year was a relatively trouble-free experience for the rookie Australian and his more experienced British team-mate.
Whilst there is always a concern in the background that friction between them could escalate, particularly as Piastri accumulates greater knowledge and becomes more competitive, team principal Stella has no doubt their similar racing characteristics are paying dividends, and can only enhance the team moving forward.
“The relationship between Lando and Oscar is the point of strength of our team,” said Stella, who then paid particular credit to Norris for what he brings to the table.
“I have to say that being Lando’s teammate is enjoyable because we have seen this kind of relationship already with Carlos (Sainz), with Daniel (Ricciardo).
“Therefore, I would like to recognise, to acknowledge how much Lando creates the condition for establishing a fruitful kind of relationship that supports the team, and supports the growth of both drivers.
“And then we have got Oscar who came with similar characteristics.
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“So with the natural process of getting to know each other, gradually, we can see that now this has created a very, very functional collaboration between the two drivers.
“I’ve always acknowledged how much, to some extent, they have almost complimentary characteristics from a driving and technical point of view.
“It means from free practice one, looking at each other’s overlays, they can pick things out – (Lando saying) I can do better here because I know Oscar tends to be good, and Oscar may say the opposite in looking at Lando’s data, which I think has contributed to him picking up over the weekends.
“So we look forward this year to taking one more step, even in relation, to the way the drivers collaborate with each other, and the way they collaborate with the team.”
Stella certainly feels that given the early stages of the relationship between Piastri and Norris more can be achieved.
“If we think about the opportunities that we have, looking at the future, we always talk about the technical aspects of the car,” added Stella.
“But definitely from last season we could see from an operational point of view, we could have done better.
“There were some qualifying sessions in which we qualified in a position that wasn’t as good as the car could be, and normally, this comes down to good collaboration, good work between drivers and engineers, and then the team overall.
“So there’s a lot to cash in on the collaboration between the drivers, and we are in a very good place from this point of view, and then the drivers with the team.
“So I would say we look forward to the future, and I look forward to seeing how this collaboration will develop.”
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