McLaren reveals crucial Lando Norris input into Oscar Piastri's win

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has revealed how Lando Norris's struggles to pass Lewis Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian GP proved crucial in Oscar Piastri's victory.

Starting 10th following a qualifying crash, Norris quickly made his way through the top 10, but stumbled when trying to pass Hamilton's Ferrari for sixth place on his hard tyres. 

Norris passed Hamilton into Turn 27 - the final turn - but Hamilton was able to use DRS to re-pass the McLaren into the first turn, delaying him by two laps, before Norris held off at Turn 27, and passed Hamilton into Turn 1. 

Later, when Piastri pitted from second place, he emerged behind Hamilton, with Stella revealing that Norris's race engineer Will Joseph passed on helpful instructions to Piastri's, Tom Stallard about passing Hamilton - which Piastri did with a move around the outside at the fast Turn 21.

"You have given me the opportunity to tell you a story," Stella told media, including RacingNews365, when asked how important it was for Piastri to pass Hamilton without losing too much time. 

"The story is that Lando's race engineer proactively told Oscar's race engineer that we struggled to pass Lewis because we tried twice at Turn 27, and he passed us back into Turn 1. 

"So we made sure Oscar knew that, and he give it a go directly into Turn 1. I was very proud that I didn't need to prompt anything; I was just a spectator to an example of the great team spirit we have at McLaren. 

"Well done to Will Joseph and Tom Stallard and the team, but I wanted to praise the mechanics and Charlie Hooper, who leads the operation in the garage, as we needed to change pretty much all the parts [on Norris's car] apart from the chassis and power unit.

"There is always a bit of nervousness when you have to change so many parts and check everything, but it gave Lando the opportunity to go and score important points."