As early as the eve of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella warned of the spectre of the inevitable Max Verstappen inserting himself into what looked like an intra-team Formula 1 title battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Stella would soon be proved right, through a combination of Red Bull’s unexpected resurgence and McLaren’s own failings, having left points on the table in Baku, Singapore and Austin while Piastri suffered his first big wobble as a championship contender.
Verstappen’s momentum was stifled on the slippery Autodromo Hermanos Rodrgiuez, where the Red Bull driver struggled with car balance to qualify fifth. He recovered to third behind Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to head into the final four race weekends 36 points off top, closer than he was to erstwhile leader Piastri before the weekend.
But despite the four-time world champion edging ever closer, Stella says McLaren’s confidence that one of its drivers will bring home the title is now higher. Not because of the points table, but because McLaren has finally stopped the rot and proved to itself that its MCL39 can still win races. And in the case of Norris’ crushing Mexico victory, even dominate.
“The confidence in terms of the championship has increased, because we have proven that we have a car that can win races and, in some conditions, can dominate races,” Stella said on Sunday night.
“This is the most important factor to put Lando and Oscar in condition to pursue the drivers’ championship. I don’t think it’s about mathematics, I think it’s about competitiveness. And it was important to confirm this competitiveness.”
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty Images
That optimism certainly applies to Norris, who has been McLaren’s in-form driver in recent weeks and now leads Piastri by a single point. But Stella believes the lessons Piastri has taken from his travails in Austin and Mexico will put him in a stronger position rather than dent his confidence, and he insists they won’t reflect the Australian’s chances to regain the upper hand from Brazil onwards.
“In the final four races, there’s no reason to think that one [circuit] may favour one driver or the other,” said Stella, whose team has already clinched the constructors’ title.
“Even if he lost some points to Verstappen, I think Oscar has got a lot of learning from this weekend. And that’s sort of an investment that you make to make sure that you are competitive in every condition in the final part of the season.
“Overall, we come out of this weekend encouraged and optimistic for the final part of the season.”
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