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Andrea Stella addressed the latest McLaren situation and revealed that the team did not undermine Red Bull and Max Verstappen in Japan. Speaking to the media, he stated that the Papayas did not underestimate Verstappen and his team, but they knew Red Bull's strength around this circuit.
Verstappen maintained his strong presence at Suzuka after the four-time world champion claimed the Japanese GP. The Dutchman won the race ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Following Verstappen's win, questions were raised as to whether McLaren undermined Red Bull and Verstappen, given that their MCL39 has been the best car so far. Addressing the question, Stella shared that Red Bull executed a perfect weekend to claim the win, and as for McLaren, they gave their best.
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“I think to win races like this you need perfect execution,” Stella said, as per MotorsportWeek. "I think in hindsight the gap we had to Red Bull yesterday in qualifying [0.044 seconds separated the top three] and also this gap was the same that we measured in practice sessions.
“I invite everyone in this room to look at the practice session always remembering that 10 kilogrammes of fuel in this circuit are three tenths and a half and engine modes can be several tenths of a second.
“So for us it was very clear that Verstappen was close we thought we had one tenth and a half advantage which is I think what was going on until perhaps Q2, what was going on until the final set in Q3," the McLaren boss further added.
Notably, Verstappen claimed the pole by being 0.012 seconds and 0.044 seconds faster than Norris and Piastri on Saturday. In the main race on Sunday, the Dutchman took the checkered flag one second and two seconds ahead of the McLaren duo.
This goes to show that Max Verstappen's Red Bull RB21 was the only car that matched the McLarens in Japan (Charles Leclerc, the driver in P4, finished the race 14 seconds after Piastri and was three-tenths slower than Verstappen in qualifying).
How did Max Verstappen's Japanese GP win shake up F1 grid?
Max Verstappen's victory at the Japanese GP was a huge deal for Red Bull and a major blow for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes. With the victory, the Dutchman took four back-to-back wins at this circuit and slashed his gap in the Drivers' Championship.
Norris leads the championship leaderboard with 62 points, compared to Verstappen's 61. Piastri is in P3 with 49 points. This went on to prove that Norris needs to extract the finest performances week in and week out to take the 2025 F1 title.
The reason? He is not only competing against Max Verstappen but also his teammate Piastri, who wants a share of the pie as well. As for Ferrari, their hopes of seeing a Prancing Horse driver winning the championship took another setback, at least for now.
