McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has refuted Lando Norris' self-criticism of his efforts across the 2024 Formula 1 season, stating that the Briton is performing at "world championship level".
On Thursday, Norris stated that he was dissatisfied with the number of mistakes he has made over the opening 14 races, adding that he had not "performed at the level of a world champion" in his outside bid to close Max Verstappen down for the title.
Stella felt that Norris was exuding his typical self-deprecative "style" in his comments, and was keen to assert that not only did his driver share traits of past world champions in F1, he was already operating at a satisfactory level.
He added that it was up to the team to match Norris and ensure that it provided the Englishman with the right opportunities to start winning races more regularly this season.
"The first thing I make of his comment is [it] kind of confirms his style. He's quite self-critical. He tends to look occasionally at the half-empty part of the glass," Stella reckoned.
"In reality, I think he definitely has the potential of a world champion, and he's performing at world championship level. If we compare against perfection, then definitely we have opportunities [to improve].
"But I like that we compare ourselves against perfection, because this is what we need to do. And I've been very encouraged that every little opportunity has been actually analysed in great level of detail."
"We do see some of the opportunities coming in the first lap, for instance, and trying to find the balance between being aggressive or simply like staying away from situation or accidents," the Italian added. "We definitely have something to clean on the start itself, which is not only driver, it's also team responsibility.
"I think he had a couple of situations in the races in which he might have taken some of the responsibility but I think it was the team responsibility. If the team had operated at higher standards, then Lando would have more points in the championship.
"And definitely as a team, we kind of appreciate that he puts some of the pressure on himself, or he raises his hand and says it was on him. But I think I have enough experience to say, 'Mate, don't worry. It's on the team. Keep doing a good job'."
Stella explained that Norris and McLaren were not going to be intimidated by the gap between him and Verstappen in the drivers' championship, which currently stands at 78 points.
He added that, although there were moments that Norris would feel he could have achieved more, this was natural for any championship contender - and that he remained in the fight due to his own strong performances.
"He can win world championships. That's a statement in capital letters," Stella said.
"In terms of this year's championships, certainly we don't give up numerically from a drivers' championship point of view, it looks like there's a big gap to fill and we are chasing Max Verstappen. Definitely it's not going to make it easy for us, but we are excited to be in this position.
"And definitely Lando is not in this position because somebody helped him. Lando is in this position because he performs very strongly. That's something that we should acknowledge and realise in terms of his achievements, not only in terms of the one, two, three opportunities in a season in which he could have done better. This is normal for every world champion in every season."
