Verstappen no longer surprises Stella: 'He is such an incredible driver'

McLaren thought they had secured the pole for the Japanese Grand Prix, but as if out of nowhere, there was Max Verstappen. Again, Max Verstappen. Andrea Stella, the team principal of McLaren, is no longer surprised.

Was Stella disappointed about missing out on the pole position or could he also appreciate Verstappen's brilliant lap? If the Italian is honest, he says both. "A strong lap by both Lando and Oscar in Q1 and Q2. In the first run of Q3 by Oscar. So it looked like we were on the way to pole position," Stella said afterwards in the British team's hospitality.

But there was Verstappen. "With Max I have stopped being surprised. He is such an incredible driver and for me this is one of the many cases in which we have to just acknowledge and say hats off to Max. Well done in putting together I guess what was the potential of his car in conditions that were tricky with the wind and the grip a little inconsistent."

Stella hoped for a record for McLaren

Stella eventually saw Verstappen set the fastest ever lap at Suzuka. "The lap times are actually, I think, the fastest times ever in Suzuka, which in itself is, for some petrolheads, is sort of an interesting piece of data."

"Actually I discussed this with the engineers and we thought we're never gonna beat the 2019 cards and instead this happened which is good. It would have been good if it was a McLaren but it's a Max."

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