Max Verstappen got back to winning ways at the Japanese Grand Prix, taking victory by holding off the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri that were on his tail
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has doubted Max Verstappen’s chances of beating Lando Norris to the title this year with an inferior Red Bull car. That’s despite the Dutchman holding off both the Brit and Oscar Piastri to take victory at Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen produced one of the great qualifying laps of his career to snatch pole position away from both McLaren drivers at Suzuka. And he used all his skill, with the help of low tyre degradation and a Suzuka track with only one DRS zone, to convert that into his first victory of the year.
Naturally, his success has sparked debate over whether he can challenge for a fifth consecutive drivers’ title after all, despite the obvious competitive advantage his rivals have. McLaren clearly still have the quickest cars on the grid while Red Bull’s machine is more difficult to drive.
And Stella believes that will be enough for his drivers to be able to see off any challenge from the Dutchman over the course of the year. “I think the most important condition to pursue both championships is having the best car,” the Italian said.
“When we are not in condition to win, finish on the podium and if in the long term you keep performing like this, I think this will be rewarding. Max at the moment is making the difference himself but it is very difficult to keep that up for 24 events in a season if you don’t have the best car.”
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His Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner is not so certain. He hailed Verstappen’s victory as one of the very best of the 64 career victories the 27-year-old has amassed to date and suggested having both Norris and Piastri in title contention could be a hindrance for McLaren.
He said: “The problem they have is they have two drivers that are fighting for the drivers’ championship. I guess the difficulty is that they’ve made a bed where they are going to let them race so there is a compromise that inevitably comes with that.”
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Verstappen has narrowed the gap to standings leader Norris to just one single point as a result of his victory in Japan. Piastri is third and very much in striking distance of both, sitting 13 points behind his team-mate.
Much of the talk in recent weeks has been focused on how McLaren will approach the seemingly inevitable outcome of their drivers fighting each other for individual glory this year. But Stella is keen to focus on removing rival teams from the equation first before he worries about any internal squabbles.
He said: “Before it becomes an internal business only, I think there is quite a lot of work to do to clear some of the competitors. We don’t need these kinds of reminders because we talk about this every Thursday and Sunday of every race weekend.
“We are here first of all to beat the other teams and put McLaren in a very strong position. When McLaren is in a strong position that is the best position for the two drivers to pursue their aspirations. That is very clear to the team and very clear to the drivers.”
