McLaren team principal Andrea Stella reflected on the F1 Sprint at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, saying that it showed “a more realistic picture” of the season, McLaren is currently witnessing while fighting for the championship.
Lando Norris had a great start to the Sprint and overtook Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell in the first few corners. He tried to catch up leader and championship rival Max Verstappen but failed to do so. In the end, the Briton was caught by both Ferrari drivers. First he was overtaken by Carlos Sainz before battling with Charles Leclerc. Norris finished the race in third.
When asked by Sky Sports F1 what happened since the Singapore Grand Prix last month, Stella responded: “We have always, at least internally, with great clarity, looked at Singapore, Zandvoort, Hungary, races in which we were dominant, we looked at that as exceptions.
“The reality of Formula 1 is that it’s a very tight competition, not always you’re going to enjoy this kind of advantage. Reality is that you need to keep improving all the time, fight on track, maximise the potential of the car, maximise the exploitation of the tyres. So for me today it’s just a more realistic picture of what we have seen across the entire year.”
Stella says that there are four different teams are fighting for the top steps now. He believes that Mercedes would have been in the mix for the podium fight. He also says that the team has now gathered some information to prepare for qualifying and grand prix.
“There are four cars, four different cars, in condition to fight for podiums. I think today Mercedes, they just suffered some extra degradation, otherwise they are there. Possibly new tyres, they were the fastest car yesterday in qualifying.
“So that’s it, that’s what we have to face. But it’s encouraging that we are there. There’s a few things I think we have learned in terms of usage of the tyres, in terms of setup. We will try and use this information now in preparation for qualifying and the race.”
Asked about Ferrari, Stella is of the opinion that the Maranallo based outfit remain the favourite for the grand prix on Sunday.
“I definitely think Ferrari looks like one of the fastest on new tyres. Yesterday in qualifying I think they had a couple of issues, otherwise they could have been pole position in the sprint quali. And today I would say in the sprint it looked the most convincing car. So I think they remain the favourite for tomorrow’s race.“
McLaren is the current leader in the constructors standings, after overtaking Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In the drivers standings, Lando Norris has a big gap to Max Verstappen but tries to spoil the Dutchman’s party and take the title home.
