Stella reveals pain after Norris and Piastri 'attack'

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has joked that he was "attacked first" by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris whilst spraying rose water on the podium at the Bahrain Grand Prix. 

Stella was McLaren's team representative on the podium at the Bahrain International Circuit after Oscar Piastri claimed a comfortable victory, with Lando Norris in third. 

The McLaren boss was slow when it came to the rose water being sprayed, resulting in him being soaked by his drivers, much to his comical disappointment.

When asked if rose water stings less than champagne, Stella joked: "It stings less. But what stings is that I was late with the spraying, so I gave Oscar and Lando the opportunity to attack first, and clearly I lost the battle, so that there's a bit disappointing."

It was another strong display by McLaren, with Piastri having converted pole position into his second win of the season. 

Norris made several mistakes on his way to third, one of which saw him serve a five-second time penalty for starting outside of his grid box. 

Despite this, Norris remains in the lead of the drivers' standings by three points over Piastri, whilst McLaren has increased its lead to 58 points over Mercedes.

"Today, the undercut was very powerful, even on the podium with the spraying. But apart from that, it was a very positive day for us. Oscar drove a perfect race, if anything, I would say a perfect weekend. 

"A little bit of a shame for Lando with the five-second penalty. Otherwise, I think good racing from Lando. He recovered, I think he would have deserved to finish second, just the race finished maybe a couple of laps too early, but it's good. 

"It's good for the team, good for our drivers. We are definitely in a strong position in both championships. And this is thanks very much to the work that the team have done. 

"And I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the men and women at McLaren for having delivered such an incredible car."