Sebastian Vettel won 13 out of 19 races in the 2013 season to bag his fourth and final championship. Out of those 13, nine wins came in the second half of the season consecutively. Resuming the action at Spa-Francorchamps, the German won every race until the end of the season. That is the sort of mentality Andrea Stella wants McLaren to embody to beat Red Bull to the championship in 2024.
Speaking to the media at the Dutch GP weekend, Stella said, “On the Drivers’ Championship [Norris is still 70 points behind Verstappen] we definitely wanted to keep our head and our focus on the fact that it was possible.”
“We even talked and looked at what [Sebastian] Vettel did in 2013 and we said we may do the same, why not?”, he added.
The Woking team is already on the right path as Lando Norris has come back as a different driver after the summer break. His performance at the Dutch GP is a testament to that, as he beat Max Verstappen to the pole position by over three-tenths of a second and later won the race with over 22 seconds to spare.
This purple patch of McLaren might not continue for too long, as per Stella. That is why, they will introduce yet another upgrade package in the upcoming race at Monza. The McLaren team boss stated, “At the moment we don’t have a car that can win everywhere. That’s why we’re coming up with more upgrades.”
However, it will take a lot more than just upgrades for the papaya team to bag more wins. For that, they need to replicate Vettel’s form from 2013.
Lando Norris to win every race until the end of the season?
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella wants Sebastian Vettel’s 9-wins-in-a-row 2013 run for Red Bull to be the inspiration for a Norris title charge. pic.twitter.com/QLQM1kCE0d
— The Race (@wearetherace) August 25, 2024
Stella also talked about the car’s performance in Zandvoort, which came as a surprise to him. The Italian boss admitted to knowing they were quick. However, the gap to the rivals — most importantly to Verstappen in the RB20 — was a testament to their upgrades’ effectiveness.
Stella rues the missed opportunity with Oscar Piastri
Until qualifying, Piastri was going neck and neck with Norris. As a result, he landed himself a P3 slot on the starting grid. However, akin to his teammate, Piastri too fumbled the race start and slipped down the order.
He made every effort to make a recovery but was only able to get himself to P4. After that, every attempt at catching up to Charles Leclerc in P3 went in vain. The dirty air did him no favors either.
Looking back at the Aussie’s race, while speaking with Sky Sports F1, Stella said, “It’s a bit of a shame with Oscar that he got stuck in traffic. He deserved a podium and could have attacked Verstappen. This didn’t materialize but it’s very promising for future races.”
McLaren’s gap to Red Bull has now reduced to just 30 points with the Austrian team sitting atop the table with 434 points to their name. Verstappen, meanwhile, leads the drivers’ standings with 295 points as opposed to Norris’ 225.
