McLaren boss Andrea Stella gives his verdict on the United States Grand Prix

AUSTIN – Celebrations began in Ferrari’s hospitality area on Sunday evening as the Scuderia celebrated a one-two finish from Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.

However, McLaren was in a slightly different mood.

While Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both finished in the points, Norris was unable to maintain P1 into Turn 1 after the lights went out, opening the door for Leclerc to take the lead as Norris battled with Max Verstappen. of. Then as the two Drivers’ Championship rivals battled in the closing laps, he went off the track, and the matter was referred to race officials for investigation.

You can watch the event here:

While Norris overtook Verstappen for P3, he received a five-second penalty shortly before the checkered flag and dropped to fourth, one place behind his rival in the title race.

while talking to the media including sb nationIn the hospitality area at McLaren on Sunday evening, the McLaren Team Principal gave his comprehensive view of the event.

“I think that being ahead of the apex is not the relevant part with regard to the interpretation of the overtaking maneuver. I think the defending car (Verstappen) goes straight to the top. We checked the video several times. It’s pretty straightforward,” Stella began. “It’s veering off track just like Lando is, giving Lando no chance to complete the maneuver.”

Before proceeding, Stella gave the gathered media a little homework assignment.

“If I were a journalist, I would do a little work on statistics. ‘How many times has Max used this method of defense?’ Both cars go off the track, so I think if there is an advantage, both cars are benefiting. So for us, this maneuver was at least neutral.

When Norris spoke to the media, he stressed his belief that race officials should take their time in such investigations, and talk to all parties involved before making a decision.

Stella was also of similar thinking.

“When I saw that the investigation was going on, I was absolutely convinced that it was because Max had pushed Lando off the track. And in fact, we immediately said to Oscar, ‘Make sure you stop five seconds on Max because there could be a situation at stake.’ So the interpretation of this situation between McLaren and the managers is diametrically opposed,” Stella began.

“I am surprised that the stewards did not even feel the need to discuss with the drivers after the race. This is an uncertain situation. Get the drivers’ input, take the time to assess the situation with the level of detail that is required when the situation is not so clear-cut,” Stella adds. “So where is the rush to interfere in the outcome of a race? With the championship? Just because you have to make a decision in 60 seconds? This is a question mark that I think managers should approach constructively. in a positive way.

“Is there really a need to make such a quick and, in our opinion, such a wrong decision?”

Stella was then asked about the start of the race, in which both Norris and Verstappen went off the racing line, opening the door for Leclerc:

Stella explained how, while McLaren were certainly frustrated by the moment, they could understand that race officials were taking no action, labeling it a “first-lap racing incident”.

We were a bit upset with the maneuver in corner one because not only did Max gain the position, but it caused Lando to spin out completely and therefore lose positions on both Ferraris.

“At the same time. We kind of understood that the managers would have imposed the first lap to mitigate the circumstances, and we accepted it because we always respect the difficulties under which managers work, “But they also have to be respectful of their job, like Lando and Max, just take the time to review it after the race, listen to the drivers, try to understand the nuances,” Steela said. Do it.

“So I think the first corner of the first lap can be mitigated by the interpretation of the first lap.”

Stella was asked why he did not instruct Norris to give back the position during the final stage incident and take the decision out of the hands of race officials. This was something that Christian Horner raised during his media session in the Red Bull hospitality area. But in Stella’s mind – as well as in McLaren’s entire operation – there was no reason for this, because the matter was clear.

“Because other people, and under my responsibility, but this interpretation had the full agreement of everyone involved,

There was no need to investigate this situation. And once we saw it, and if anything happened, we thought the investigation should be about Max pushing Lando off the track,” Stella said.

“And when we saw that the matter was being investigated we thought that this is what was going to happen. So for us, there was no need to give back the position because of the situation. This is what I explained earlier.”

Stella then addressed the title battle between McLaren, Red Bull and now Ferrari, who closed to within eight points of second-placed Red Bull with a one-two finish.

“I think there are some factors to consider in terms of competitiveness,” Stella said. “When it comes to Ferrari, I have said that already during the weekend, they have been consistently much faster than in previous races. Whatever the case, they are not able to maximize their potential.

“I think in Baku Leclerc was, in fairness, definitely in a position to win the race. In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be very competitive for pole position, and then the same in the race itself,” Stella added. “So we’re not surprised that Ferrari is so close, and then when we look at the characteristics of the circuit especially because of the breaks in the very low-speed and some very high-speed sections, we know that in these two situations, Our car is not at its best performance.

“And, for example, very low speed and very high speed are also very good at Red Bull.

“So if we consider Ferrari, they were already competitive, Stella continued. “If we consider the track layout, and if we consider that Red Bull had three weeks to look at the data and think. It was time to be like ‘What’s going on with their car?’ And when we talk about Red Bull, a very capable group of engineers, it doesn’t surprise me what kind of struggles we’ve had, here in Austin.

The McLaren boss then said that Mexico City should prove to be more fertile ground for the team, while also saying that McLaren had some more upgrades coming over the next two race weekends.

“I think the next circuit should be a little more suitable for the characteristics of our car,” Stella said. “We also have to keep developing the car. Like here, we made some developments on the front of the car, but nothing major in terms of potential lap time impact.

We have some more things coming in the next two races.

We will see if we are in a position to make the car competitive.

Stella concluded with this thought.

“I wanted to make sure that what we bring to the track side (in terms of upgrades) is well treated, and we’re quite encouraged and I have to say well once again to our aerodynamics team, that part. The ones we have taken here, they worked as suspected and hopefully the same will be the case for the parts coming to Mexico and Brazil.

With that, Stella left for the night.

And the celebrations continued at Ferrari.