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mclaren Team principal Andrea Stella has urged lando norris Being “prudent” at the start of Sunday’s title-deciding f1 race in Abu Dhabi,
Championship leader Norris, who has a 12-point lead, had to be second on the grid after max verstappen Set a pair of sensational laps to secure pole position in qualifying on Saturday night.
oscar piastri Mercedes’ George Russell is fourth and one place back in third. Norris only need one platform Would like to win the 2025 World Championship and stay out of trouble on the first lap.
The 26-year-old Briton will need to strike a balance between winning the race and limiting the risk of a game-changing incident and Stella believes Norris needs to play it safe early on.
“Considering the inside at a turning point, from Lando’s point of view Abu DhabiI think he should be relatively discreet,” Stella said in her written media session on Saturday night.
“It’s not one of those where on the inside you get better exhaust, the car outside may be closer. So I think there would be some discretion I would recommend.
“Lando is in a very strong position. I think that’s the approach, also in terms of the options available to Max to try.
“To be honest, I’m not too worried. We’ll see, you know, some interesting racing, but I’m sure it will all be within the boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness.”
Verstappen, who is aiming for a fifth consecutive title after falling behind by 104 points in August, admitted after qualifying that he did not want a “straight” race.
‘I am going all out, I have nothing to lose,’ said the Dutchman. I’m going to try to win the race – if I need to attack, I’ll attack.
“Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. In my mind, we want to score a lot of points but we also need a bit of luck with what happens behind us. But we can talk about strategy for two hours and then after the first lap, it can all be thrown in the bin.”
Verstappen needs to win the race and hope Norris finishes fourth or lower, while Piastri needs to win and hope the Briton finishes sixth or lower to overcome the 16-point deficit.
To put pressure on Norris in the back position, the Dutchman may try to support the pack up from the lead.
“We have more options to play at some level,” Stella said, citing his two drivers in the top three, while Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda is down in P10.
“If you go too slow, you could be vulnerable to being attacked from the undercut. You could expose yourself in case of being overtaken. Of course, I think it’s good that we’re there with two cars.”