McLaren's Andrea Stella explains Lando Norris's fifth place at US Grand Prix

Andrea Stella has wanted to launch a message of optimism after the United States Grand Prix. The McLaren director, far from lamenting the fifth place of Lando Norris and the seventh of Oscar Piastri, has assured that the MCL40 was at the level of Ferrari and Red Bull during the race in Austin, a statement that invites hope ahead of the last events of the season although it also hints at the frustration of not having been able to convert that potential into a tangible result.

"I think in the race we saw that what we said could have been the car's potential came true, yesterday in qualifying we thought we had a faster car than what we could really translate on track. Lando said the car could have been good for P2, I think that's a bit exaggerated, because even if the potential was there, this year somehow it is very difficult to use all the potential" Stella declared after the race. The Italian explained that the difficulty in extracting the maximum performance from the MCL40 in qualifying is due to the narrowness of the car's operating window a problem that is mitigated in the race: "It becomes a little easier in the race because you don't push as much as in qualifying. Necessarily you leave a little margin and the car was, I think, as competitive as the Ferraris and Red Bull, while Antonelli seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else" he added.

Norris came to run second in the final phase of the race thanks to a one-stop strategy, while Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton opted for two stops. That strategic difference allowed the rivals to hunt down and overtake the world champion in the last laps: "For the one-stop this gives you the possibility of taking advantage of a Safety Car that didn't come. We are still waiting for a compensation for what happened in Madrid, it will come and we also tried to see what was left in the hard tires but honestly we knew it was very unlikely that we could keep Verstappen and particularly Leclerc behind. With Hamilton we thought it depended more on the final tail of the hard tires" Stella explained.

The McLaren director also confirmed that the team will introduce new improvements in the next races: "There will be some more things, I think ultimately we will only be able to do it in Brazil and Las Vegas, so in Mexico there won't be much but in Brazil and Las Vegas there will be some improvements. Let's hope this helps us, as I said before, to be consistently in the fight for podiums and hopefully start leaning towards the level of competitiveness that is required to fight for victory so there are some improvements that are still on the way" he noted.

McLaren faces the final stretch of the season with the need to recover the performance that led it to Norris's victories in Hungary and the Netherlands, the British team occupies third position in the constructors' championship and maintains a tight fight with Red Bull that lurks just seven points behind, the improvements that will arrive in Brazil and Las Vegas will be key to determining whether McLaren can fight again for the honor positions and close the year with good sensations.

Stella, for his part, maintains confidence in the team's work and in his drivers' ability to reverse the situation.