Stella points out 'misunderstanding': 'McLaren didn't necessarily have the fastest car'

According to McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, his team did not necessarily have the fastest car at the Italian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc won the Formula 1 race in Monza on behalf of Ferrari and, according to Stella, both teams were at least equally fast. Moreover, he does not mind at all that Ferrari won, as now "more cars have snatched points from Red Bull Racing".

When asked by GPblog, Stella said that his team needs to take more advantage of the current situation at the F1 team of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Above all, however, he thinks McLaren should benefit more from the competitiveness of its own car. In terms of the race today, I think there may be a misunderstanding that the McLaren was by far the fastest car. I think Leclerc was as fast as McLaren today because he could stay with Oscar in the first stint," said Stella.

"And even in the second stint, he was behind the two McLarens and still he could stay with the McLarens. And even if you look at the practice and the qualifying, I think lap times were essentially within the noise of putting together laps. I think Ferrari this weekend, they were as competitive as us, at least with Leclerc," he adds.

On the one hand, Stella sees that as bad news because McLaren did not win the race. "But at the same time, it's good news because we have more cars that can take points away from Red Bull. So I think, actually, I think this is better news for us. And we need to make sure that we, like I said before, maximise the potential that is available in the car. Even if it means that in this kind of circuits, Ferrari will set a very serious challenge for the victory," the McLaren team boss concluded.

This article has been created in collaboration with Jenny Garnett.

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