McLaren team boss Andrea Stella says he expects “interesting racing” in the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale as Max Verstappen starts ahead of fellow title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, but expects the Dutchman to race fairly.
Verstappen took a crucial pole ahead of Norris and Piastri at the Yas Marina Circuit, with the four-time world champion having to win the race to keep his hopes of a fifth consecutive crown alive.
But Verstappen, who is trailing Norris by 12 points, still needs some help from others, as Norris only needs to finish third in the event of an eighth win of the season for his rival. Piastri, who starts third, similarly needs to win the race to stay in contention, but at 16 points the Australian needs an even worse outcome for Norris.
Observers are therefore expecting Verstappen to try and back Norris into the traffic behind, not unlike Lewis Hamilton’s ploy to try and defeat Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in 2016, in the hope of a big battle adding some extra jeopardy to Norris’ race.
When asked by Motorsport.com about such a scenario, McLaren chief Andrea Stella said he was confident any Verstappen antics would remain fair.
“In terms of the options that Max has available to try and play his cards, honestly I’m not too worried,” Stella said. “I think we will see some interesting racing, but I’m sure all this will happen within the boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness.”
The Italian added: “We have seen in practice that the level of degradation and graining was above expectation. There may be reasons to control the pace even from a tyre point of view, not necessarily because of some strategic reason for the lead car.”
In 2024 Turn 1 saw contact between Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The starting order for the race is perfect for Norris, so Stella is advising the Briton to ensure he protects second from the cars behind rather than try and have a go at Verstappen from the lead. Yas Marina has an awkward grid and run to Turn 1, given that the racing line runs diagonally across the track and therefore doesn’t feature a big shift in grip levels between the two sides of the grid, which cost Norris a position to Verstappen last week in Qatar.
“I think from Lando’s point of view, considering the inside in corner one, I think he will just be relatively prudent,” Stella explained. “It’s one of those where from the inside not necessarily you get the better exit, the car on the outside can close, so I think there will be some prudency which is what I would recommend.
“Lando is in a very strong position from this point of view, so I think that’s the approach.”
Another element could be Red Bull’s second car Yuki Tsunoda, who sacrificed his Q3 to give Verstappen a tow, and could be a factor from 10th on the grid if Red Bull were to extend his first stint.
Stella certainly saw no bones in Tsunoda’s sacrifice was fair game, especially given Verstappen went even quicker on his second lap without a slipstream.
“I’m not necessarily surprised that Red Bull may play as a team, it’s within their possibilities. I don’t think this is unfair,” he said.
“But actually, the pole position lap is the lap after, so Max did it even without the tow, so fair game to Max. I think he was the fastest car today and he deserved the pole position, and he got it. We’re still in a good position for the race so all still in our hands.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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