McLaren boss repeats ‘capital letters’ stance on Max Verstappen title chances

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is very clear that Max Verstappen is a threat in the Drivers’ Championship, after Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris suffered “not a good day” at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

McLaren took just six points away from Baku – all courtesy of Norris – as Verstappen delivered another dominant display to make it back-to-back wins. It was a race which saw Championship leader Piastri crash out on Lap 1, ending a nightmare weekend on a sour note.

McLaren boss declares Max Verstappen genuine title threat

After a dramatic qualifying which saw both Piastri and Norris hit the wall in Q3, McLaren was left with work to do as Verstappen clinched pole. Norris was to launch from seventh and Piastri ninth.

P7 was where Norris finished the race, while for Piastri, he was in the barriers by Turn 5. After a false start, Piastri hit anti-stall and dropped to the back off the line. He swiftly began recovering positions, but his race ended by the fifth corner as he went in too hot and steamed into the wall.

Verstappen went on to win comfortably, and reduced his deficit to Drivers’ Championship leader Piastri to 69 points.

Stella was quizzed on whether he felt Verstappen’s latest resurgent step makes him a real threat to the McLaren duo’s title hopes, with seven rounds to go.

“I used the capital letters already yesterday, when I said yes in capital letters, and today, I think it just confirms,” he stated.

“We’re talking about Max Verstappen. We’re talking about Red Bull. We have already seen in Monza that they improved.

“They seemed 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.

“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.”

So, with McLaren seeing Verstappen as a potent Drivers’ title threat once more, Stella was asked how this could change McLaren’s approach internally, if he continues to make life difficult.

“When you race in Formula 1, when you race at the top of Formula 1, and the competition is so tight, simply, you cannot afford errors in any case,” Stella responded, “because there will be your contenders that are ready to take advantage.

“And this before might have been Mercedes, like in Canada. Max, like at the start of the season.

“We don’t have to forget that Red Bull won the two races at the start of the season. And then, if anything, it’s they kind of slipped back in terms of performance, and now they seem like they found their way back, okay, but they were in contention for victories already at the start of the season.

“For us, considering, especially the Drivers’ Championship, certainly the margins to error reduce furthermore. But this is always the ethos when you’re racing in Formula 1.

“So hopefully some of the inaccuracies and issues have accumulated in this weekend, because in this weekend, we have to remember that not only we didn’t have a fast enough car, but we also had some reliability issues that cost Oscar some time during practice. Therefore, quite a lot to take away for the drivers, but also for the team.”

Key F1 2025 stats following the Azerbaijan GP

👉 The biggest gaps overturned in modern F1 history shows the improbable task for Verstappen

👉 Azerbaijan GP driver ratings: Mighty Max Verstappen and Super Sainz master Baku streets

It was a frustrating Grand Prix for McLaren’s title chargers. While Piastri suffered a race weekend to forget, Norris was unable to make progress through the field, finishing where he started in seventh, having been unable to properly trouble Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson.

“This was not a good day for both drivers,” Stella admitted, “for obvious reasons.

“Because even if perhaps this was not a weekend in which even maximising things we could have beaten Max, perhaps we could not, but certainly there was more in the car, and there was a possibility to fight for podiums for both Oscar and for Lando.

“For Oscar, he comes out with no points and lots of learning, and I’ve already had a chat with Oscar, and his mind is already fully functional, processing. He’s already into, ‘That’s what I’ve learned. I look forward to the next one.’

“And also, we said with Oscar that today, even without issues, it’s not like there were many points available starting P9, so lots of learning for Oscar, and no points on Lando’s side.

“If we just look with the lens of the Drivers’ Championship, obviously, this was an opportunity to gain some points, like possibly it might have been yesterday in qualifying, but at the same time, today, we did not offer Lando a car that was in condition to progress through the field.

“And I think actually, Lando had a good race. He stayed out of trouble. He was clean. But, there was not enough pace.

“So I think in the economy of a weekend, learning for Oscar and six points gained for Lando, which I think it’s not so straightforward that this could have been more considering the competitiveness of the car.

“But above all, I would say, there’s the Lando-Oscar, but as a team, and Lando and Oscar, we also look at Max, because he’s definitely in the competition, and we look forward to races in which we can, if anything, try and push Max back again.”

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