'Smart Max is right' thinks Stella: But is the Italian giving up key McLaren secret?
A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Max Verstappen, whilst assessing his Friday in Hungary, looked to McLaren's efforts and pinpointed a major strength of theirs. The Woking-based team's boss Andrea Stella agrees with the Dutchman, but is he giving away the secret to McLaren's domination in the 2025 F1 season?
After FP2 had been wrapped up, Verstappen spoke about his and Red Bull Racing's woes. In doing so, though, he couldn't help but assess McLaren's dominant showing as well.
The Dutchman believes the MCL39 has great advantage over the rest of the field in in the medium speed corners.
Stella couldn't help but agree with the current F1 champion: "That's an easy answer because it can be answered just by looking at the GPS data."
"When you look at the speed comparison with some other teams, the data says that McLaren can generate the highest mid-corner speed in medium-speed corners."
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However, Stella is also aware that McLaren lacks to competitors in other areas.
Stella reveals where McLaren's focus lies to achieve their dominant form?
"I think the assessment of Max is correct, [but] we still have our weak points. If you go on a very high-speed corner like Copse, for instance, or Pouhon, we are not the fastest car."
"Likewise, probably in very low speed, we are not the fastest car," the McLaren boss added.
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Stella then made a remar that could be the cornerstone behind McLaren's current F1 dominance.
"But the majority of corners in a championship happen to be medium-speed corners, and certainly in that range, our car is, data in hand, the best," the McLaren boss concluded.
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