McLaren boss Stella says ‘it’s all to play for’ in title battles despite Norris losing ground to Verstappen in Brazil

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella was swift to congratulate his rivals Red Bull in Brazil, with Max Verstappen’s dominant victory dealing a blow to Lando Norris’s hopes in the drivers’ championship. But McLaren somehow managed to extend their lead in the constructors’ championship – no mean feat on a day where so much went wrong for so many.

Norris started the day 44 points behind Verstappen in the standings, having eked out three points over his rival by winning the Sprint. But despite starting the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from pole, it felt like Norris was up against it from word go. He lost the lead to George Russell, dropped even further back when the Virtual Safety Car period ended just as he was pitting, and then ran wide at a subsequent restart.

READ MORE: Norris rues ‘unlucky’ pit stop timing in Sao Paulo as he vows team will ‘keep our heads down’ despite title setback

Add in the free pit stops for the front three, with Verstappen and the Alpine pair staying out in treacherous conditions on their original tyres and thus benefitting from the red flag stoppage, and it would be easy to see why McLaren might feel aggrieved at how their day turned out. But instead, a cool and calm Stella was quick to take the positives from a very difficult race – as Norris claimed P6, while Oscar Piastri was classified P8.

“The first thing I would like to say is to congratulate Max for one of the best victories in his career, it was very impressive from where he started, a great drive and also great pace – because he moved up the field thanks to the pace,” Stella said.

“Also, thanks to making the brave decision in the situation with the red flag of not stopping and staying out on tyres that were relatively worn at the time, this played to the advantage of Max and advantage of Alpine, and even Alpine deserve definitely congratulations for a double-podium finish.”

It’s always easy to judge strategy calls in hindsight, but the decision to bring Norris into the pits under the VSC was instrumental in dropping him behind other cars on a day where overtaking off-line into the spray was proving incredibly difficult.

READ MORE: What Verstappen needs to do to take his fourth title in Las Vegas after his epic Sao Paulo Grand Prix win

But Stella was clear that McLaren made the right calls at the right times, given they are fighting for the constructors’ title as well, on a day where one Ferrari failed to finish, and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull wound up out of the points.

“I back the decisions we made because it came with the full agreement of the drivers, the pit wall, and also a little bit of reason that we need to make sure we stay on track, because we compete for points, we compete for both championships and we need to finish races.

“Personally, I’m not very comfortable to leave a car out there with tyres that are pretty worn with that amount of water. Without the red flag, we would be commenting on a different kind of race here.”

McLaren head to Las Vegas still in command of the constructors’ championship, and with arguably a more single-minded focus now that Norris looks increasingly unlikely to be able to wrestle the drivers’ title away from Verstappen. But how will the papaya team handle the last three race weekends of the season?

“In terms of the constructors’, it doesn’t change anything and that was always our priority. Even when there was a call to be made to support one driver over the other, it was always secondary to maximising the constructors’ championship.

“When it comes to the drivers’, for Lando there was never any particular pressure. To be honest, we were enjoying this quest. Sometimes from outside, it may come across like, 'Oh there was an error there', but I don’t think pressure was a significant factor at all. Now we must analyse the points – mathematically we are still in the championship.

“I think for Lando, for Oscar, we will go to the next races and try and win the races. The last two races should be good, for Vegas it might be more of a Ferrari track, we will see but all to play for and the constructors’ remains and has always been our priority.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action as Verstappen stages remarkable comeback in Sao Paulo while Alpine claim double podium

And in the wake of what on paper could have been construed as a disappointing few races, that saw two wins for Ferrari and then one for Verstappen, Stella was still able to see the bigger picture of just what McLaren have already achieved this year.

READ MORE: Perez admits ‘nothing really worked’ in Sao Paulo GP as Horner brands Mexican’s first-lap spin ‘annoying’

“Since we have delivered lap time to the car in Miami, McLaren have outscored by far every other competitor… The amount of points we scored, not necessarily because we had the best car – because we only had the best car at a few events, not all. It’s because the team and the drivers operated at very high standards, and we take these high standards as a positive, and as a foundation to keep building.”