McLaren not at all surprised by Verstappen: 'Red Bull played hide and seek'

08:00, 20 Apr

byTim Kraaij

Max Verstappen caused a thunderous surprise with his pole position in Saudi Arabia. At least, for most people in Jeddah. For McLaren, it was no surprise that Verstappen once again snatched a pole position right from under their noses.

After qualifying in Jeddah, Lando Norris said he was not surprised that Verstappen had taken pole position. According to him, Red Bull Racing had looked strong all weekend, so the pole for Max was nothing out of the ordinary.

When GPblog presented this to Andrea Stella, the team principal of McLaren explained why they were not surprised.

"That's an interesting point, because internally, we always thought that Russell and Verstappen, they were very close. Even when we, in practice, were a few tenths ahead of the others, we always knew that because of the run profile and because of the choices you make in practice, the gaps appear bigger than what they are."

"In addition to that, I think the car is good pretty much in all conditions. While it may look that some competitors may struggle when it gets a little hotter or the wind [is] in a certain direction, I think thanks to the quality of our drivers and thanks to the characteristics of the car, we are kind of good enough in every condition. So, I think because of these car qualities we appear faster than what we actually are, compared to, I would say in particular, Verstappen and Russell."

Are Verstappen and Red Bull Playing Hide and Seek?

"If we look at the numbers, and if we look at the demand of the circuit, [it] is not very different from Suzuka. In Suzuka, pole position was Max Verstappen, and it was pole position by 12 milliseconds. In a way, the story repeats itself here. Whatever happens in practice, it doesn't really count. That's a choice of the team in terms of what fuel level, what engine mode teams use."

"We have all the GPS overlays. We see the speed they have, so we understand what engine mode they are using, the fuel level, we don't get flattered, we don't get carried away."

"In a way, I think even from your side, by saying, oh, McLaren, much ahead. You know, like, That's their job. They are good in the car. They are good off the car. And they are in the right to say so."

"For me, the reality is that we have to improve the car. This was the key message in the briefing. It's been the key message for some time already to the team. And that's what we will try and do in the future."

Where the majority of the Formula 1 world was taken aback by Verstappen's pole, according to McLaren, it's primarily Red Bull Racing that is playing hide and seek in the practice sessions. By hiding there, they would put pressure on McLaren and more easily outperform as underdogs. Whether this is really the case, or if Stella is in this case protecting his drivers who may not have extracted the maximum from the car, is debatable.