McLaren vs Verstappen: How Does the British Team Strike Back?

Verstappen Emerges as Favorite, Concern at McLaren?

For the first time this season, a McLaren driver is no longer the favorite to win the Formula 1 world championship. Max Verstappen, with an outstanding performance, has climbed positions, changing the landscape of the competition. The bets now favor Verstappen, closely followed by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, both McLaren drivers. Just three races ago, Verstappen’s odds were much lower, which underscores the speed with which he has reduced Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ standings. Red Bull and Verstappen’s remarkable comeback has put McLaren in a challenging situation, especially after a less-than-brilliant weekend at the United States Grand Prix.

The danger for me is the same as in Baku. Max is in the competition for the drivers’ championship. When I say something, I mean it.

Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal

Since last month’s Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen has outperformed the two McLaren drivers combined and reduced his distance with Piastri by 64 points. If this trend continues in the last five races of the season, Verstappen could overtake both Piastri and Norris.

The combination of Verstappen’s impressive performance and McLaren’s challenges has narrowed the gap in the standings. However, the outcome of the drivers’ championship could still be in McLaren’s hands. If both McLaren drivers outperform the defending champion in just one of the remaining five races, the task for Verstappen becomes much more difficult. McLaren believes that three of the remaining circuits, Brazil, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, will suit the strengths of their car better compared to recent tracks.

I think we have good clues to come for our car and I think we could have exploited our car more. The drivers themselves recognize that they could have done a better job in some of the previous races. We see the next five races as opportunities to increase the distance with Max.

Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal

Stella also believes that McLaren’s performance is not as disappointing as recent results suggest. In the five races since the return from the summer break in Zandvoort, Piastri’s average finishing position is 6.6 and Norris’s is 6.4. Verstappen’s is 1.4. After Sunday’s race in Austin, Stella was convinced that Norris would have had the pace to match Verstappen if he hadn’t lost a position to Charles Leclerc at the start and spent the rest of the race battling the Ferrari. Piastri’s lack of performance in Austin was more difficult to explain, but Stella said that important lessons were learned on Sunday that will be applied to the next rounds. McLaren’s disastrous sprint race, in which Piastri and Norris collided and retired, had significant repercussions for the rest of the weekend. McLaren lacked crucial data from the short-format race that would have unlocked more performance in qualifying and the race. With the current generation of F1 cars, significant aerodynamic performance can be found by running at lower ride heights. The sprint race usually offers teams a convenient preview of what to expect from the long-distance grand prix, allowing them to adjust their ride heights accordingly, but without data from either car, McLaren had to play it safe in Austin and sacrifice potential performance.

One way to increase the chances of a McLaren driver winning the title would be for the team to fully support a single driver. Piastri would be the obvious choice based on his 14-point lead in the championship, although Norris’s better form in recent races is one of the many reasons why such a decision is not clear.

After multiple questions about such a strategy over the weekend, McLaren remained firm in its belief that both drivers deserve the same opportunities. The only thing that will change that would be if a driver were mathematically ruled out of the title fight.

When it comes to having to make a decision about a driver, this will only be led by mathematics.

Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal

According to Stella, the answer is remarkably simple: keep calm and carry on.

We continue to talk about the fact that what we are facing at the moment, which is a close competition to win races, a close competition in the pursuit of the drivers’ championship, is what Formula 1 is all about.

Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal