McLaren boss Andrea Stella has denied that Max Verstappen’s win in the Japanese Grand Prix provided a reminder about the external threat to the team in Formula 1.
The Woking-based squad was unable to make it three consecutive victories to open the campaign as Verstappen produced an inspired showing to triumph at Suzuka.
The Dutchman’s breakthrough result has placed him one point behind Lando Norris, though McLaren’s advantage in the Constructors’ Championship is now 36 points.
But while McLaren harbours the benchmark car in the MCL39, Verstappen’s exploits to bridge the gap have heightened hope that there will be a multi-team title battle.
However, Stella has dismissed that Verstappen’s win has served as a wake-up call, as he highlighted that McLaren has never underestimated the threat its rivals pose.
“We don’t need this kind of reminder because we talk about this every Thursday and every Sunday of every single race weekend,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“We are here first of all to beat the other teams, put McLaren in a very strong position; when McLaren is in a strong position then that’s the best position for the two drivers to pursue their aspirations. This is very clear to the team, very clear to the drivers.
“Obviously I think just to somehow validate your point when you have these indications coming from the track they may be if anything reinforcing the message that we do have to keep working well together because it’s before it becomes an internal business, only I think there’s quite a lot of work to do to clear some of the competitors because [George] Russell wasn’t very far in China as well.”
Red Bull pace in Japan no surprise to McLaren
McLaren had appeared destined to dominate the weekend once again until Verstappen usurped Norris and Oscar Piastri with an exceptional lap to grab pole position.
However, Stella has insisted that McLaren was aware that Verstappen would be in contention based on the inherent pace that Red Bull had concealed during practice.
“I think to win races like this you need perfect execution,” he acknowledged.
“I think in hindsight the gap we had to Red Bull yesterday in qualifying [0.044 seconds separated the top three] and also this gap was the same that we measured in practice sessions.
“I invite everyone in this room to look at the practice session always remembering that 10 kilogrammes of fuel in this circuit are three tenths and a half and engine modes can be several tenths of a second.
“So for us it was very clear that Verstappen was close we thought we had one tenth one tenth and a half advantage which is I think what was going on until perhaps Q2, what was going on until the final set in Q3.
“So I think when it’s a matter of milliseconds everyone always retains the possibility to say I could have done better here and there, but this is a matter of milliseconds, so I think I don’t want this matter of milliseconds to outshadow a weekend that is overall still quite positive.
“I think for Lando and Oscar in terms of the points they scored even for their championship quest and it’s positive for the team then we know that to beat Max and Red Bull we need to operate at the highest standard, but also we need to operate consistently and I think when you might have won but you don’t win and you are P2, P3, [it] is still a robust way of going racing and I think this will be will pay off at the end of the at the end of the season.”
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