Max Verstappen in Austin - Photo: Race Pictures

Stella’s telling reaction to Verstappen’s growing title challenge

00:15, 20 Oct

Updated: 00:22, 20 Oct

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byTobia Elia

Is Max Verstappen now a serious threat to the two McLarens in the title fight? Here’s what Andrea Stella believes.

“I said very clearly in capital letters that Max was in the contest for the Drivers' Championship”

- Andrea Stella

Speaking to GPblog after a race that saw Lando Norris finish second and the championship leader only fifth, the Italian said that: “The danger for me is the same as there was in Baku, and something I said yesterday in which I said very clearly in capital letters that Max was in the contest for the Drivers' Championship.

“And when I say something, I mean it. It's not like if I say it, I think it's because of the experience, because of understanding the trend, the circuits that we were gonna face from back homewards.

For me, there's no mystery. And we know that when Max has the material to win, he becomes a very serial candidate to win. So, it doesn't change what our understanding of the situation is. It doesn't change what we do.”

Andrea Stella - Photo Race Pictures

Even though the championship fight is increasingly shaping up to be a three-way battle rather than the two-horse race it had been for most of the season, Stella believes nothing will change from McLaren’s perspective — the team’s approach, he insists, will remain exactly the same.

“It doesn't change what we do. We just have to keep maximizing the performance and keep executing good weekends.

“From this point of view, if you think a race like Baku, we didn't maximize the performance and we didn't execute a perfect race, so definitely we have a large opportunity and the outcome of this season. The Drivers' Championship is in our hands, it's not in someone else’s hands. That's the mindset that we want to have and that's the mindset that we will have.”

Verstappen closes the gap significantly in the Drivers’ Championship

Verstappen was in a league of his own at the Circuit of the Americas, delivering a commanding drive to take victory in the United States Grand Prix. Controlling the pace from start to finish, the Dutchman left no room for doubt as he tightened the gap in the championship race.

While Norris slightly closed in on his teammate, it was Verstappen who gained the most, cutting his deficit to the Australian down to 40 points — a big step forward from the 63-point gap he faced at the start of the Austin weekend.

Here's the updated drivers' championship standings after the US GP.

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