Stella Warns Verstappen Still a Title Threat Despite Piastri Lead

• Andrea Stella insisted Max Verstappen remains a serious championship contender, saying he would “write it in capitals.”
• The McLaren boss highlighted Red Bull’s upgrades and warned that Piastri and Norris may take points from each other.
• Stella also defended Oscar Piastri’s Azerbaijan crash as a one-off, noting even Michael Schumacher had weekends like that.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has doubled down on his belief that Max Verstappen remains a genuine threat in this year’s Formula 1 drivers’ championship, despite the Dutchman sitting a long way behind in the points.

Verstappen, who won at Monza two weeks ago, stormed to pole in Baku after Oscar Piastri crashed out in Q3 and Lando Norris clipped the wall on his flying lap. Verstappen then converted pole into victory, cutting into McLaren’s advantage in the standings.

“[Red Bull] have taken a new floor to Monza,” Stella explained. “They might be setting up their car slightly differently. We hear now Verstappen talking about grounding much more than it was doing before. So they might have unlocked performance, and I would not be surprised at all that Red Bull continues the streak that they have started. Pole position in Monza, victory, pole position here, Red Bull are a very serious contender to win races and a very serious contender for the drivers’ championship.”

Asked if he truly believed Verstappen could still snatch the title, Stella replied firmly: “A firm yes. Can you write it in capitals? Because it was quoted in capitals.”

Despite McLaren’s dominance, Verstappen’s six pole positions this year are more than any other driver. But with seven races remaining, he still trails Piastri by 69 points and Norris by 44.

Stella warned that the situation is complicated by McLaren’s two drivers competing against one another. “Of course, of course,” he said when asked if Verstappen was still a danger. “We don’t have to forget that first of all he’s Max Verstappen – world champion for the last four years – in a fast car. Like I said before, there are races where McLaren may not enjoy any advantage from a competitiveness point of view.

“And Lando and Oscar are always there, so they won’t necessarily be maximising the points available. Sometimes it will be a little bit more points for Lando and a little bit more for Oscar, so they may take some points away from each other. We are very aware of this aspect, but we let them race because they both deserve to pursue their aspirations. Therefore, yes, Verstappen and Red Bull in contention for the drivers’ championship.”

At the same time, Stella moved to ease pressure on Piastri after his Azerbaijan disaster, which ended a 34-race points streak. The Australian false-started, dropped to last, and crashed on lap one after hitting the wall at Turn 5.

“I have worked with multi-champion drivers, and in a season – every season, even the most dominant – even by one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1, like Michael Schumacher, I have seen events like this,” Stella said. “Events in which the most you take away [from the weekend] is the learning, because things become, for some reasons difficult, and as soon as you misjudge the grip available, you get highly punished.

“So, a one-off weekend in which things don’t go his way, and he ultimately had a loss to review. It is no surprise, no exception that we should not be worried about it, because this has happened to pretty much all champions, even the ones with the best track record.”

Stella added that Piastri had already begun to move on. “He comes out with no points and lots of learning,” he said. “And I’ve already had a chat with Oscar and his mind is already fully functional, processing, he’s already into thinking, ‘that’s what I’ve learned. I look forward to the next one’.”

He described Piastri’s jump start as an “excess of eagerness” and said his driver’s ability to learn quickly would be decisive in the title run-in. “I think one of the strongest features of Oscar is how rapidly he learns, how rapidly he improves and how he can come back stronger,” Stella said. “That’s why he’s been so successful in every category. I think that’s exactly what will happen in his Formula 1 career and we will see it in the remainder of the season.”