"That’s what teams that don’t win say": McLaren's racing mentality questioned by former driver

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve claimed that he found it weird when McLaren team boss Andrea Stella mentioned that the British team's priority in the 2024 season was the constructor's championship and not the driver's title with Lando Norris. The Woking-based outfit is currently leading the Constructors Championship, followed by Ferrari and Red Bull, with three races and one sprint remaining in the season.

The iconic F1 team has been incredibly consistent after a slow start to the season and has won five races thus far. Both drivers have always been fighting for positions at the top half of the grid.

But the team's aspiration to win a double this year got a huge dent when after the Brazilian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen eeked out his championship lead to 62 points over Norris.

However, the McLaren team boss told the media after the race that the Constructors Championship was "always our priority". Former Williams F1 driver and 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believed that he found the comments "odd" and questioned the team's mentality, saying, via PlanetF1:

“McLaren said the weirdest thing after Brazil, and that was the team’s priority, which was not the Drivers’ Championship but the Constructors’ title. That is very odd. That’s what teams that don’t win say. Ok, the Constructors’ title brings you money. But nobody cares about the Constructors’.

"People only remember who the World Champion driver was and the team linked to that world champion. And ultimately in people’s minds, that’s the team that was world champion. The constructors is only good on paper and for the extra money, it brings to the team. That’s about it. Outside of the team itself nobody actually cares about it.”

McLaren team boss fends off questions over Lando Norris's title bid

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella stated that there was never any pressure regarding Lando Norris's driver's title bid and pointed out that they were "enjoying the ride".

As per PitPass, the Italian reflected:

"When it comes to the drivers' championship, I don't think for Lando there was any particular pressure. We were enjoying this quest, even though sometimes from the outside it may come across like there is an error here or there maybe.

"Mathematically we are still in the (drivers') championship but I think for Lando and for Oscar, we will go to the next races trying to win the races."

McLaren currently leads Ferrari by 36 points in the Constructor's Championship and can inflict maximum damage on the Italian team at the Qatar Grand Prix at the end of the month. The Lusail International Circuit will suit the MCL38's medium-speed-corner strengths as was evident during last year's race where they had a double podium finish.