‘The best driver won the championship’ says McLaren boss Andrea Stella as he issues target to topple Max Verstappen in 2025

Andrea Stella has praised Max Verstappen for his championship triumph, with the McLaren boss also expressing hope that the squad’s battle with the Dutchman this season will serve as good preparation to launch a new challenge for the drivers’ crown in 2025.

After a dominant start to the 2024 campaign, Verstappen and Red Bull quickly built a strong lead in both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings. However, as their rivals closed in during the season, Lando Norris put himself in contention as the reigning champion’s closest challenger while McLaren ultimately overhauled Red Bull in the teams’ fight.

The Woking squad are still holding P1 in that battle, but the drivers’ championship was decided in Las Vegas after Verstappen finished ahead of Norris in the race, meaning that the 27-year-old enters the final two Grands Prix of the season as a confirmed four-time world champion.

Asked during a chat with Sky Sports F1 about wanting to congratulate Verstappen on his achievement, Stella responded: “Yeah, 100%. To be honest, we congratulated with Max even when he was winning races in Brazil and this is fair play, fair play to a great champion, fair play to one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1.

“[He is] fast, consistent, even when he was winning race after race last year, people thought it was easy and it is not easy to win races, even when it looks easy. Really, hats off to Verstappen, well done to Red Bull in supporting this incredible driver and let me say we are proud that we were challenging him this season.

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Max Verstappen clinches title number four under the Las Vegas lights

“We just lost a few too many points at the start of the season but then we were there with Verstappen’s pace, which is hopefully just the preparation work for a new challenge we want to open next season on the drivers’ [championship].

“But in 2024 well done to Max, very well deserved. The best driver won the championship and yeah, we look forward to next year from this point of view. But the constructors’ championship is open and our focus will be there.”

With Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri ending the Las Vegas Grand Prix in sixth and seventh respectively, McLaren continue to lead the constructors’ standings on 608 points, putting them 24 points clear of Ferrari in second and 53 ahead of third-placed Red Bull.

While this result saw the Woking outfit lose points to the Scuderia, Stella is optimistic that the team did enough damage limitation to put themselves in a decent position for the final two races of the campaign.

“In fairness, coming to Vegas, we expected it to be a bit of a struggle,” Stella explained. “This concern materialised – it materialised in qualifying, in the race in the first two stints we were just fighting from graining and there was no way we could stop this phenomenon from happening.

AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 19: Pole position qualifier Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren talks — Norris became Verstappen's closest challenger for the drivers' title as the 2024 season progressed

“In the final stint, a combination of various things including some changes that were quite extreme with toys on the car and driving style, the graining didn’t happen on Lando’s car and the pace was as fast as the leaders.

“So, I think there’s not only the fact we could damage limit but [there was] important learning for us as a team in how we cope with this phenomenon and with these conditions.

“Overall, we lost points to Ferrari, but I would consider it a damage limitation considering we now go to two venues that should be more comfortable ground for our car. But when you have Mercedes performing like this, Ferrari at this level, Red Bull, it is never comfortable.

“So, we know the job is not finished, we know that there’s hard work ahead of us. We go to the last two races fully focused and we know we have a job to finish.”