Stella fears Verstappen in Monza: 'Red Bull are still Red Bull'

Red Bull should never be discounted according to Stella

"Red Bull is Red Bull, so you always expect them to be very competitive. I think we have seen even in Belgium that they were strong. We know that they have a very efficient car, can easily generate top speed, retaining good downforce. So for us, no different than always. There will be four teams in contention to win the race," Stella said after the first free practice session.

With that, the McLaren team boss thinks Monza could provide plenty of surprises. "And I think the Free Practice one has also told us that there's some potential outliers, because as we said, with this tarmac and some special setups that you can run here, it could be that some midfield cars join the party at the top," the Italian added.

Can McLaren continue excellent form in Italy?

Stella was satisfied after McLaren's performance in the first free practice session. "Based on FP1, I think the car is pretty much like where we expected it to be. So no surprises in terms of competitiveness. So what I would add is that when we consider tracks like Zandvoort, Hungary, Barcelona, I think it's the track layout that favours McLaren at the moment. We seem to be good in medium speed corners. We seem to be good in long corners, high downforce," Stella said.

In doing so, the Italian does think Monza will be trickier than other circuits. "So we are cautious because here we are almost polar opposites. Short corners and long straights where you have to generate top speed and a small rear wing. So I think we need to be careful and maximise the potential, above all," the team principal concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi

Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!

X | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube