McLaren not surprised Verstappen skipped strategy games in Abu Dhabi

21:13, 07 Dec

bySamson Ero

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted he wasn’t surprised by Max Verstappen’s decision not to employ any strategic tricks, even with the drivers’ title on the line.

“I'm not necessarily that surprised it didn’t happen, and it’s also a good thing that it didn’t.”

- Andrea Stella

Speaking to GPblog in the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi race, the 54-year-old recounted the Dutch driver stating he was less interested in such tricks, before expressing how pleased he was with Verstappen not opting to employ them.

“Max said a couple of times before the race, ‘I’m going to do my race, I’m going to win it, and I’ll just need some luck,’ and that’s what he did,” Stella explained.

He added that with both McLarens starting on split tyres, any attempt to control the race would have been even more challenging.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

“At the same time, with the two McLarens starting on split tyres, it would have made any attempt to control the race a bit more difficult. I’m not necessarily surprised it didn’t happen, and it’s also a good thing that it didn’t,” he added.

The McLaren team principal, reflecting on the nature of the race, added that the Red Bull Racing car proved to be the quickest of the lot at the Yas Marina circuit.

“It was a good race. It was an interesting race—one stop versus two stops—and Red Bull proved to be the fastest car once again.”

Stella concluded by highlighting that the Red Bull team had indeed turned the corner, particularly since mid-season.

“I think they clearly did a very good job of overcoming some performance difficulties from the middle of the season,” he said.

“They gave us an enormous challenge to beat them on track. Often, we didn’t manage to do so, but it’s important that we managed to do it in the championship. I’m not even surprised that they are finishing the season probably as the best car,” he concluded.

Norris happy with manner of title victory

Earlier, Lando Norris admitted to being pleased with the manner in which he won the drivers’ championship. The British driver claimed the 2025 crown with 423 points, two points ahead of Verstappen.

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