Guenther Steiner recently appeared on the RacingNews365 F1 podcast to discuss the ongoing championship fight. The host asked him which team would he bet $100 on to win the constructors’ championship. To this, Steiner replied that he would bet on McLaren to end their 26-year-long drought of a constructors’ championship by beating Red Bull this season.
The former Haas boss said, “I would put it on McLaren. I think McLaren could be almost there as well. They had a few mistakes [in the] last races, small mistakes you know, nothing big but that’s what made them lose a little bit of points. So, I think they are the most consistent and also the car – it adapts to all the different track layouts.”
How things stand as we head into the summer break pic.twitter.com/sJPrPYtVRO
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Steiner’s assessment of McLaren’s season so far is quite apt. The Woking outfit has indeed been the most consistent team, but have left a huge chunk of points and perhaps even two or three race wins on the table.
While they are only 42 points behind Red Bull, had they not made certain mistakes in the last five races, they could have even got the championship lead. Regardless, the points swing in their favor has been due to both their drivers scoring consistently ever since the Miami GP.
On the other hand, Red Bull have been plagued with their car issues and Sergio Perez’s struggles holding them back. Max Verstappen has single-handedly kept them afloat in the constructors’ fight.
So, as Steiner said, McLaren have great odds of beating the Milton Keynes outfit to win their first constructors’ championship since 1998. However, the same is not the case in the drivers’ championship.
Lando Norris is fumbling immensely to challenge Verstappen’s crown
Despite not winning a single race in the last four weekends, Verstappen has still maintained a healthy advantage in the drivers’ standings. The three-time champion is currently leading Norris by 78 points.
And given the way he is maximizing his results despite his recent struggles, Verstappen looks in a good position to win his fourth consecutive championship. On the other hand, Norris and McLaren have not grabbed their opportunities to reduce Verstappen’s lead.
The Canadian and British GP wins went begging for Norris despite the Woking team having the overall fastest car on those weekends. Meanwhile, similar strategic mistakes resurfaced in Hungary — where luckily they still got a 1-2 finish with Verstappen struggling behind.
Thus, heading into the second half of the season, the Dutchman will have to make massive blunders to lose the drivers’ championship lead. Moreover, there is no surety of Norris capitalizing on winning those races, given how he has failed to win races since his maiden win in Miami despite being the favorite.
The Hungarian GP also further exposed McLaren’s poor race strategy management and this will only benefit Verstappen and Red Bull.
