McLaren vs Verstappen: How to Counterattack in the F1 Title Fight?

Verstappen Ousts McLaren as Favorite in F1 Championship

For the first time this season, a McLaren driver is no longer the favorite to win the Formula 1 world championship. Sports betting now places Max Verstappen as the favorite, closely followed by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Just three races ago, Verstappen’s odds were much higher, which underlines the speed with which he has reduced Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ standings. The change in direction of Red Bull and Verstappen has been such that McLaren could have panicked after another disappointing weekend at the United States Grand Prix. However, McLaren has been fully aware of the threat for several races.

The danger for me is the same as it was in Baku. I said very clearly in Baku that Max was in contention for the drivers’ championship. And when I say something, I mean it.

Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal

Identifying the threat is one thing, but combating it is another.

Since last month’s Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen has outperformed the two McLaren drivers combined and has reduced his distance with Piastri by 64 points. If the same trend of results is applied to the last five races of the season, Verstappen would surpass both Piastri and Norris to win this year’s title.

By exploring fruitful configurations and adding a significant improvement to the RB21 at the Italian Grand Prix, the Red Bull in Verstappen’s hands has become the fastest car on the grid in recent races. Combined with the difficulties of the McLaren drivers in maximizing their car’s performance, and also making significant mistakes, such as Piastri’s crashes in qualifying and the race in Baku, the gap in the standings has been reduced at a dramatic pace.

As impressive as Verstappen’s quest for a fifth title has been, the outcome of the drivers’ championship should still be in McLaren’s hands. If both McLaren drivers outperform the defending champion in just one of the remaining five races, the task facing Verstappen becomes immensely tougher. Moreover, McLaren believes that three of the remaining circuits (Brazil, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi) will play much more to the underlying strengths of their car than recent track designs.

The fact that there are five races and two sprints means that we can also increase the distance with Max. That’s how I see things. I think we have good tracks to come for our car and I think we have more that we could have exploited from our car.

Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal

Stella also believes that McLaren’s performance is not as disappointing as recent results have suggested. In the five races since the series returned from its 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.

I think in terms of the trend (of performance in relation to Verstappen), today is a relatively reassuring race because I think without having to fight with Charles, which was certainly an entertaining fight in itself, I think Lando had the pace to win the race today.

Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal

Piastri’s lack of performance in Austin was more difficult to explain, but Stella said that important lessons were learned on Sunday that would be applied to the next rounds.

This is undoubtedly one of the most important points we need to review, which is the fact that Oscar, in qualifying and in the race, seemed to have a couple of tenths of a second that he couldn’t fully realize, and that was possibly available in the car. I think we know, with Oscar, that when conditions are such that we have little grip, you really need to challenge the car, lean on the understeer, the oversteer, the locking.

Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal

Stella also wanted to emphasize that McLaren’s disastrous sprint race, in which Piastri and Norris collided and retired, had significant repercussions for the rest of the weekend. In addition to the points lost, McLaren also missed crucial data by running the car during the shortened race format that would have unlocked more performance in qualifying and the race. With the current generation of F1 cars, significant aerodynamic performance can be found running at lower ride heights. To prevent teams from running dangerously close to the ground, a resin “plank” is placed on the underside of the car that must maintain a certain thickness in various measuring holes to be considered legal. What will McLaren do now?

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 that decision is not clear.

After multiple questions about such a strategy over the weekend, McLaren only became more entrenched in their belief that both drivers deserve the same opportunities. The only thing that would change that would be a driver being mathematically excluded from the title fight.

When it comes to having to make a call regarding a driver, this will only be led by mathematics. I can remember at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it is actually the driver who finishes third who wins the championship, but we are not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics.

Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal

So, what’s McLaren’s plan to fight Verstappen? According to Stella, the answer is remarkably simple: stay calm and keep going.

Well, first of all, I need to stay calm and, by putting things in good perspective, I hope I can do it. We are still talking 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. If anything, it was anomalous when we were easily doing P1, P2, like in Barcelona, in Bahrain, in some other places. That’s not what Formula 1 is about.

Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal