Third-placed Norris believes that he could have deprived Leclerc of second in Melbourne if McLaren had have gone for an undercut strategy, as Ferrari and team-mate Oscar Piastri did.
But when this was put to Stella, he implied Ferrari won out on merit because the SF-24 is a faster car than the MCL60.
The Italian added that a team orders call to swap Norris and Piastri was about minimising the risk of the pair crashing rather than fully believing Leclerc could be caught.
Considering Norris’s claim, Stella said: “It's possible. That was very, very early in the race, a race with a high degree of uncertainty as to the behaviour of the hard tyres.
“And in fact, we saw that there were certainly some big cars that didn't look quick at all because they were not working well with the tyres - one is the Red Bull of [Sergio] Perez [who finished fifth].
“So, I think we actually went for this aggressive strategy, trying to pass Leclerc with Oscar. But Leclerc decided that it was a good idea as well. And they went at the same time - potentially, because of listening to our radio.
“This also meant that Leclerc and Oscar would have gone below two cars fighting each other.
“So, with Lando in a strong position, we thought that was an unnecessary risk.”
Source: Autosport