Stella hails ‘amazing’ asset behind Verstappen’s F1 success

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has hailed Max Verstappen’s “amazing” starts as an underrated asset that has shaped Red Bull’s recent Formula 1 dominance.

Verstappen has continued to reign supreme at the head of the Drivers’ standings during the opening quarter this term, winning all but two of the opening seven races.

However, the Dutchman almost sustained a second consecutive loss to McLaren at Imola last weekend as Lando Norris mounted a late charge on his struggling rival.

But the track position that Verstappen had gained with a blistering qualifying lap and an excellent launch from the line was enough to see him prevail by seven tenths.

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Stella believes that the three-time F1 champion’s tendency to not lose places on the opening lap is not a coincidence and is a credit to the execution on Red Bull’s side.

Asked whether Verstappen pulling clear from Norris on the second phase was down to the power unit or something software-related, Stella reponded: “No.

“I think if we look at Verstappen’s consistency at launches, it is amazing.

“Sure he scores pole position, but you very rarely see him losing pole position at the first corner. Again, this consistency in launches is the result of good work.

“I say often that I admire how they can win so consistently, because there are so many ways in which things can go wrong.

“We proved that yesterday with our operations in qualifying, but even achieving this level of consistency in launches, this is the driver executing the quality of the launch, it is tyre preparation, it is definitely having a good engine in the acceleration phase and then you can gain a little bit of an advantage in the reaction time, like Lando might have done today.

“But if you have such a consistent launch like Max has, then you don’t gain the position. You need to do a good job all around to be successful, and that is what we are trying to do.”