McLaren team principal dismisses Max Verstappen as a credible title threat

Andrea Stella feels Max Verstappen would not be able to keep up in the title fight if McLaren's performance difference to Red Bull remains the same. The 2025 F1 season has had a very interesting start with three different drivers winning the opening three races.

The first race was a well-managed win by Lando Norris in Australia. It was followed by Oscar Piastri winning the race in China. And then Max Verstappen flipping the form guide out of the window and winning the latest race in Japan.

While McLaren continues to hold the advantage in terms of car performance, Max Verstappen's tenacious ability to continue to extract the best possible result from the car has seen him win and be within a point of Lando Norris at the top of the championship.

After the race in Suzuka, McLaren was under a lot of pressure from the media for the very conservative approach the team had when it came to putting together the strategies for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Talking to Racingnews365, McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, opined that it was important to continue to bank points on weekends when the win is not on the table.

Talking about how if the drivers continue to bank these points, the fact that they have a better car than their rivals would help them in the long run. Stella even addressed Max Verstappen's possible title contendership and said that it would be hard for him to keep up in the long run. He said,

"It's important that if we're not in a position to win, we still race robustly to at least finish on the podium. If you keep doing that in the long run, it will pay off. We saw Lewis Hamilton win the sprint race in China, George Russell was very competitive the next day and here we had Red Bull and Max Verstappen . These are still snapshots, we can't wait to see how everything falls into place in calmer waters."

He added,

"The most important factor in trying to chase both world titles is having the best car. Somehow Verstappen is currently making the difference himself, but it will be very difficult to keep that up for 24 race weekends if you don't have the best car."

Max Verstappen pessimistic about fighting McLaren at every track

Max Verstappen was also not too optimistic when questioned if the Red Bull can now challenge McLaren at every track. The driver pointed out that one of the reasons he won was because it was very hard to pull off overtakes at Suzuka, and hence he could manage things. That would not be possible at upcoming tracks like the one in Bahrain. Max told reporters after the Japanese GP:

"We still have work to do, we still have limitations, but knowing these limitations you try to find out how much you can push it. To fight for the title, we need more."

The race in Bahrain is going to be interesting as Max Verstappen is just a point behind Lando Norris in the overall standings. If he picks up a win in Bahrain, then fans will be looking at completely different dynamics when it comes to the title picture in 2025.