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McLaren Team Principal, Andrea Stella - Photo: Race Pictures
F1 News

Did Red Bull copy McLaren? Stella responds to rivals’ performance gain

13:00, 21 Oct
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Andrea Stella has addressed suggestions that the Red Bull car bears similarity to McLaren amid the Austrian team’s performance surge.
“There’s nothing you can take from another car.”
- Andrea Stella 
The McLaren team principal, who spoke to GPblog during the United States Grand Prix, explained that at this stage of the regulation, it is almost impossible for teams to benefit from replicating rivals' designs, before suggesting that the resurgence at Red Bull stems from internal improvement.
“You are always very attentive on the technical side. But in reality, especially at this level of maturity of the technical regulations and development, there’s nothing you can take from another car – something that may look a little bit different, like a component on another car, and have any probability that it’s going to work.”
“I think if they have improved their car, it’s because they might have fixed some potential aerodynamic issues.”
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Max Verstappen lifts the United States GP winning trophy as Lando Norris looks on - Photo: RacePictures

Stella on Red Bull’s development

Stella went on to highlight the impact of Red Bull’s recent development, stating how the new floor update the team introduced at the Italian Grand Prix and the front wing that debuted at the Singapore Grand Prix have proven to be effective. 
“As I said before, there was a new floor in Monza and a new front wing in Singapore. Also, as I’ve mentioned already, their drivers seem to be much more vocal about ride and grounding.”
“It could be that they’ve simply understood that this generation of cars and their own car as well, needs to be run while challenging certain aspects like ride heights. For me, if I had to speculate, that’s where I would put my $1.”
The Red Bull Racing team have experienced an upward swing in performance, particularly since the resumption of the second half of the season. Both Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda have recorded impressive results for the Red Bull team.
At the United States Grand Prix, both drivers again finished in the points in both the Sprint and Grand Prix, with Verstappen claiming victory in both races.

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