McLaren has claimed that Ferrari’s 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix arrived as no surprise as its rival hadn’t “maximised their potential” over recent Formula 1 races.
Charles Leclerc managed to secure the lead right at the start and then never looked back as he dominated proceedings to head home Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Ferrari’s second 1-2 this season has reignited its title hopes as both drivers are now targeting the side’s current 48-point gap to McLaren over the remaining five races.
The Italian marque’s edge in race conditions at the Circuit of the Americas came unexpected amid the pace advantage McLaren has boasted since the summer break.
However, McLaren boss Andrea Stella has contended that the results in the build-up to the Austin round undermined the competitiveness of Ferrari’s SF-24 challenger.
Leclerc emerged as the quickest driver in Baku but lost out to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, while Ferrari’s win hopes were wrecked in Singapore with a slip-up in qualifying.
“I think in terms of competitiveness, there’s some multiple factors to consider,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“When it comes to Ferrari, I’ve said that already during the weekend they have been quick over the previous races, pretty consistently.
“If anything, they’ve not been capable of maximizing their potential. I think in Baku, Leclerc, in fairness, was definitely in condition to win the race.
“In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be very competitive for pole position, and therefore then it would have been the same in the race.
“So we are not surprised that Ferrari is so close.”
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McLaren also proved to be on the back foot versus Red Bull, as Max Verstappen extended his points lead with a win in the Sprint and then third place in the main race.
Stella dismissed that the Woking-based squad has regressed relative to the competition, though, citing that the track characteristics were not suited to its MCL38 car.
“Then when we look at the characteristics of this circuit, in particular, because of the braking into very low speed and some very high-speed sections,” he explained.
“We know that in these two situations, our car is not at the best of its performance.
“And for instance, the very low speed and the very high speed is also where Red Bull are very good.
“So if we consider that Ferrari, they were already competitive.
“If we consider the track layout, and if we consider that Red Bull had three weeks to look at data and think what is going on with their car.
“And we talk about Red Bull, a very competent group of engineers, then I’m not surprised that here in Austin we kind of struggled.
“I think the next circuit [in Mexico] should be a little bit more suitable to the characteristics of our car. But not a surprise overall for me.”
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