Although Max Verstappen is now four points closer to championship leader Lando Norris (McLaren), McLaren’s convincing win at the Mexican Grand Prix has given the team confidence that they can take the Formula 1 drivers’ title.
On the eve of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the McLaren team boss warned of the “specter” of the extremely strong Max Verstappen, who could interfere in the apparently internal team title fight between Oscar Piastri and Norris.
Stella would soon be proven right, through a combination of Red Bull’s unexpected resurgence and McLaren’s own mistakes, after the team dropped points in Baku, Singapore and Austin, while Piastri experienced his first major wobble as a title contender.
Verstappen comes, McLaren hits back
Verstappen’s momentum was slowed at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where the Dutchman struggled with the car’s balance and qualified fifth but finished third behind Norris. He now goes into the last four race weekends 36 points behind – closer than he was to Piastri before the weekend.
But although the four-time world champion is getting closer and closer, McLaren is now more confident that one of its drivers will win the title, says Stella. Not because of the points, but because McLaren had finally stopped the negative series and proven to themselves that the MCL39 can still win races. And in the case of Norris’ victory in Mexico, he can even dominate.
“Confidence about the championship has increased because we have proven that we have a car that can win races and can dominate races under certain conditions,” said Stella on Sunday evening.
McLaren has proven it
“That is the most important factor in putting Lando and Oscar in a position to win the drivers’ championship. I don’t think it’s about math, I think it’s about competitiveness. And it was important to confirm that competitiveness.”
This optimism certainly applies to Norris, who has been McLaren’s more in-form driver in recent weeks and is now a single point ahead of Piastri. However, Stella believes that the lessons Piastri learned from his difficulties in Austin and Mexico will put him in a stronger position rather than dent his confidence.
“In the last four races there is no reason to think that one [Strecke] could help one or the other driver,” explained the Italian.
Piastri still has chances
“Even though he lost a few points to Verstappen, I think Oscar learned a lot this weekend. And that’s kind of an investment you make to make sure you’re competitive in all conditions in the last part of the season.”
“Overall, we come away from this weekend encouraged and optimistic about the final part of the season.”