McLaren has claimed Max Verstappen‘s pace at the United States Grand Prix signals he and Red Bull should be considered the benchmark combination in Formula 1.
Red Bull’s recent upturn in competitiveness has been maintained in Austin as Verstappen backed up a win in the Sprint Race with an uncontested run to pole position.
Despite not having a second run in Q3, Verstappen had over two tenths in hand over Lando Norris, while Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren was down in sixth place.
Both Norris and Piastri expressed to struggling with the MCL39’s balance, the car that delivered the Woking-based squad the Constructors’ title with six rounds to run.
However, Red Bull’s resurgence has seen Verstappen outscore the McLaren duo in the previous three rounds, which contained dominant victories at Monza and Baku.
That has provoked McLaren boss Andrea Stella to admit that Red Bull’s RB21, at least in Verstappen’s reliable hands, is the strongest package on the grid as it stands.
“If you look at the gap to Verstappen, it’s measurable in tenths of a second, and I think at least two tenths is a fair gap that we had today to Red Bull,” he media including Motorsport Week.
“We have to admit that, at the moment, Verstappen and Red Bull have the most competitive car.”
Stella made it clear that Red Bull’s advantage can no longer be attributed to going to tracks with characteristics that are more favourable to the RB21 than the MCL39.
“Up to a certain point, we can talk about the impact of the track layout, and I think that’s true for circuits like Baku, Singapore, and, to some extent, Austin,” he said.
“But the gaps we’re seeing now to Verstappen can’t only be ascribed to the layout.”
McLaren braced for continued Red Bull challenge
With no added upgrades in the pipeline, Stella has recognised that McLaren must work with what it has got at its disposal to respond to Red Bull’s renewed challenge.
“It’s clear that Red Bull has taken a step forward, and on our side, we need to find ways to extract more from our package,” he acknowledged.
“Overall, the kind of advantage we experienced in some races this season might not necessarily continue for the rest of the year.
“The most competitive combination of car and driver at the moment is Verstappen and Red Bull. That’s been proven across multiple track layouts.
“In reality, at this stage of the regulations, there’s nothing you can just take from another car, replicate, and expect it to work.
“If they’ve improved, it’s probably because they’ve fixed some aerodynamic issues.
“We need to be ready as a team and as drivers, because Verstappen and Red Bull will likely remain competitive at every remaining race.
“Our job is to exploit the strengths of our car, adapt to each circuit, and push as hard as we can to challenge at the front.”
But despite the momentum seeming to be with Red Bull, Stella believes that McLaren will be back on the pace at circuits where there are fewer heavier braking zones.
“We should be able to exploit our car’s strengths, mainly where we can carry high speed through the middle of the corner,” the Italian assessed.
“Even today, we struggle in all the braking zones. However, I would have expected a smaller gap here, if anything.
“But we need to be ready as a team and as drivers, because Verstappen and Red Bull will likely remain competitive at every remaining race.”
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