McLaren believes the dominance it showed in Formula 1‘s Singapore Grand Prix was down to the circuit characteristics more than extracting more pace from the car.
Lando Norris delivered upon the pre-race estimation that he would be untouchable as he converted pole position into a crushing 20-second win over Max Verstappen.
McLaren has become recognised as the benchmark team and Norris’ success in Singapore ensured it has taken three victories in four races since the summer break.
The Briton inflicted a similar winning margin over Verstappen in the Netherlands last month, while team-mate Oscar Piastri triumphed for a second time in Azerbaijan.
However, McLaren was edged to top spot at the Italian Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc prevailed, while Ferrari took pole and could have beaten Piastri in that Baku race.
But while Norris’ advantage exceeded what McLaren held compared to recent events, McLaren boss Andrea Stella denied the team has made strides with the MCL38.
READ MORE: Red Bull: McLaren pace in F1 Singapore GP was ‘taking the piss’
“I think if I look at previous races, at this high level of downforce we seem to be very competitive,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“So I think it might have to do more with the level of downforce than with the fact that we may be chipping away at getting more and more out of the car.
“But I think the car has been strong in this configuration. I always make the examples of Hungary, Zandvoort.
“Even Hungary was a relatively dominant victory in itself, like Zandvoort and like this one.”
“So I think at the moment it’s more than the car in this configuration.”
Ferrari struggles exaggerated McLaren’s margin
Meanwhile, the Italian has contended that both Ferrari drivers starting in unrepresentative positions on the grid exaggerated McLaren’s advantage over the opposition.
“In Red Bull we see that in a track in which they thought they would have not been very competitive, ultimately they were potentially second best,” he assessed.
“I think we haven’t seen Ferrari today very well, but even Ferrari, P1, P2, they seem to be as fast as us and the final stint of Leclerc is very competitive.
“So I think the race may give us a little bit of a flattering, I think you say it like this.
“The situation from a competitiveness point of view, I would say we need to keep being aggressive in terms of development.”
McLaren expects to retain an edge over F1 rivals
However, Stella is convinced that McLaren will continue to retain an edge over the competition when it comes to circuits that place an added emphasis on downforce.
“I think it has the better aerodynamic efficiency across the grid, while at low drag I think the efficiency of Ferrari, Red Bull is much more comparable to our car.
“We know certainly that we have invested much more at this level of downforce than what we have done at lower downforce.
“Even though I’ve said already after races like Spa and Monza we have definitely made a step forward in terms of retaining downforce when we reduce the level of drag.”
