Stella weighs in on Verstappen/Norris Austria clash

Unsurprisingly, however, Horner’s view was not shared by his counterpart at McLaren, with Stella explaining his perspective in an interview with Sky Sports F1 – as he compared the crash to Verstappen’s infamous spats with Lewis Hamilton during their fraught title fight in 2021.

“The entire population in the world [knows] who is responsible – except for a group of people,” said Stella. “But the problem behind it is that if you don’t address these things honestly, then it will come back.

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“They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past, when there were some fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way. Like this, you learn how to race in a certain way, which [is] fair and square.”

Asked if he was referring specifically to Verstappen and Hamilton’s battle at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix, Stella replied: “There’s many episodes. The fact is, we have so much respect for Red Bull, so much respect for Max, they don’t need to do this… This is a way to almost compromise your reputation. Why would you do that?”