Stella says Piastri and Norris are racing like champions in F1 title battle
The pair are 16 points apart in a two-horse race, with Australian Piastri leading McLaren's sixth one-two of the season in Belgium on Sunday and taking his sixth win of the campaign.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen is third but 81 points behind, with his hopes of a fifth successive title fast receding.
There are 11 races left and the intra-team rivalry will be the major focus with McLaren set to retain the constructors' crown with ease, as they are now a huge 268 points clear of second-placed Ferrari.
Norris won in Britain after Piastri was penalised for braking erratically behind the safety car but the Australian triumphed at Spa by slipstreaming past from second on the grid.
'There is very, very little between our two drivers and this is because the two drivers are racing at a very, very high level,' Stella told reporters.
'I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution,' added the Italian, who worked with champions at Ferrari and said Piastri and Norris were both operating at that level.
At Spa, the regular grid line-up was replaced by a rolling start in wet conditions after four laps behind the safety car, with Norris finding pole position was no real advantage once the race got going.
Piastri had discovered the same during the Saturday sprint, when Verstappen won from second on the grid after seizing the lead on the opening lap.
'We saw in Silverstone that an issue, a sporting issue for Oscar, during the safety car restart and the consequent penalty, cost him the race,' said Stella.
'Here we saw that, somehow related to the circuit characteristic, it would have been very difficult for Lando to keep the position, starting first at the safety car restart.'
Stella discounted a battery problem that appeared to be an issue initially, saying a slight anomaly had occurred in both cars and Norris should not have been any worse off.
'It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety car restart, but at the same time I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap,' he said.
'So I think the execution is what is going to make the main difference.'
Piastri was not unhappy after qualifying second, observing that Spa was probably the best place not to have the best lap, and planning his next move already.
'The move through Eau Rouge, I knew it was going to be by far my best opportunity to try to win the race. I'd been thinking about it for a while, put it that way,' said the Australian.
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Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Verstappen managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat last week in Belgium when he beat the McLarens and won the Sprint at Spa, twisting the RB21 up and over Eau Rouge to give his home fans something to cheer. But the long term race pace just wasn't there for the Champion, getting outrun by Piastri (P1) and Norris (P2) again. Piastri's win last week and Norris's P2 podium finish has all but solidified an orange victory at the end of this season. Fans and maybe even McLaren boss himself, Zak Brown, don't know yet just which driver in McLaren will lift the trophy. Although Piastri has dominated his teammate this season, Norris looked like he isn't throwing in the towel over the course of the past few races, and closing the point gap between them. For the four-time World Champion Verstappen, however, it doesn't look like he's equaling Michael Schumacher's record of five-striaght World Titles any time soon. Pity though, it would have capped off a hall-of-fame level career at Red Bull, although there will always be a cloud hanging over the 2021 title. Red Bull just haven't been able to deliver a car capable of allowing Verstappen to compete at McLaren or recently, Ferrari's level. The team have experimented with different aerodynamic appraoches for the first half of the season, even opting for a super skinny rear wing at one point. Now 109 points behind Piastri in the leader, Verstappen will need to find whatever last bit of juice the RB21 has to offer before its too late. While it already may be a little too late in terms of points, its Formula 1, so you never know what type of second half McLaren might have. Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko came out swinging this week, defending his team an d Verstappen's seat for next season. The Hungarian GP posed an important mark on the calendar for Red Bull fans, mainly because of the release clause in Verstappen's contract. It allegedly states that if he is fourth or lower in standings, he is allowed to exit the contract. Marko said it was ridiculous "other people thought they knew the contract better than us", after he was quizzed about it by Austrian media. According to Verstappen, he never had any plans of leaving but did enjoy stirring the pot a bit. "That's me, and I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around and actually that should be the same for everyone. "Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama but for me it's always been quite clear and also for next year. "I'm discussing with the team already the plans, the things that we want to change next year so that means I'm also staying with the team for next year and if my boat is next to Toto's then the boat is next to Toto's," Verstappen said in Hungary. He's confirmed Verstappen's place in Red Bull next year, which was widely speculated about. It was alleged that Toto Wolff wanted to sign Verstappen onto Mercedes, but with the new regulations coming into effect next year, Marko said the move would not have " made sense" . "I can confirm Verstappen will be driving for Red Bull next season," he said. According to Verstappen, he never had any plans of leaving but did enjoy stirring the pot a bit. "That's me, and I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around and actually that should be the same for everyone. "Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama but for me it's always been quite clear and also for next year. "I'm discussing with the team already the plans, the things that we want to change next year so that means I'm also staying with the team for next year and if my boat is next to Toto's then the boat is next to Toto's," Verstappen said in Hungary.
