In McLaren’s view, Red Bull does not paint the most accurate picture of a competitive picture between the two teams.
“Red Bull, they’re very good at building fast cars,” Stella said. “I think they’re very, very good. By driving a fast car, they’re also very good at creating stories for their benefit.
“They are taking advantage of every possible opportunity to stay in the competition. Some of these opportunities are making stories, such as, “Oh, we’re doing miracles here, others should win every practice session and qualifying and race.”
“This is a story created by some of our competitors, and sometimes I read it and then change the page and focus on myself.”
The grid sets up an interesting race. The candidates for the title are in reverse order, with an intruder in the form of Mercedes’ Kimi Antoneri between Norris and Piastri.
And Norris sniffs the opportunity to nail his first victory since the opening race of the season in Australia in March.
In qualifying, he made an error in the final corner on both laps. He knows there is a car pace, as it costs about 0.2 seconds each time.
“Max has always been good at qualifying and as a team, we’ve been a little more struggling with qualifying, whether it’s a set up or whatever,” Norris said.
“I know that Red Bull is running at a high level, which allows the DRS (qualifying) in particular to be much more competitive. But it’s a long race and I know there’s a good pace in both conditions.
“I don’t just expect to compete with Max. You’ll be faster all weekend, and so does Oscar. Yes, I’m hoping for a tough race from all accounts.”
