Andrea Stella sees Max Verstappen is back in the F1 title fight. Photo: RacePictures.

McLaren doubles down: Verstappen is definitely back

17:27, 21 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen is back in the F1 Drivers' title fight.

Max Verstappen smiles after Baku win. Photo: RacePictures

Reaffirming his statements from yesterday afternoon following Verstappen's pole position, Stella doubled down saying that the Red Bull driver was indeed back in the championship fray.

"Well I used the capital letters already yesterday so I can't [backtrack]. When I said yes in capital letters and today I think it just confirms what was the [point].

The McLaren team principal is convinced Red Bull's newly found strength is not dependant on the track, but rather a genuine step ahead the Austrian team have taken with their car's overall potential and performance, something which makes Verstappen capable of delivering.

"We're talking about Max Verstappen, we're talking about Red Bull. We have already seen in Monza that they improved, they seem to have made an improvement with their car.

"Because the way they won Monza was something more for what was our assessment than simply a car that adapts well at low drag. They were fast in the corners, medium speed and low speed corners, fast in the straights.

"And we know that Max, when he has a competitive car, can deliver strong weekends.

However, despite McLaren's win last year in Baku, Stella revealed that the team expected to struggle this weekend. "Conversely, we also knew that here in Baku for us would have been a difficult circuit.

"So we will see now in Singapore, which should be more of a one in which we should perform well. Hopefully we can go back to fighting for victories and then we will see how the rest of the championship will unfold.

"But definitely Max is in the contention for the Drivers' Championship. We knew it and we got confirmation today," Stella concluded.

Red Bull on a race-by-race approach

After Verstappen's win in Baku, Red Bull Racing's team principal Laurent Mekies said that his outfit's approach was more focused on understanding their current car, dismissing any sort of energy is being spent on thinking about the championship.

The Frenchman denied even being aware of the positions in both the Drivers' and Constructors' standings, since their focus is on adopting an aggressive approach to each race weekend and unlocking the maximum lap time, which can only help in their battle against McLaren and Mercedes.

The Red Bull team boss also highlighted the fact that both of their wins had come at Monza and Baku, two very specific tracks, suggesting Red Bull's recent upturn in form could still be track dependant, statements echoed by Verstappen himself.

The gap in the Drivers' Standings between Oscar Piastri and Verstappen has been cut by 35 points in the past two race weekends, and now stands at 69 with seven Grands Prix left to go this season.