McLaren team boss makes admission over Verstappen

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella believes Max Verstappen wouldnot have become a Formula 1 World Champion in a McLaren. With 19wins to his name out of 22 Grands Prix in 2023, Verstappen droveone of the most dominant F1 seasons ever seen behind the wheel ofthe Red Bull RB19. There is a lot of talk over whether Verstappenwould be able to pull off a similar result in another car on thegrid, given that he has only ever driven for two teams in hiscareer under the Red Bull umbrella. Stella believes it would havebeen a tougher challenge to repeat such a feat in the MCL60, givenwhere the team started the season last year. "Even an excellentdriver like Verstappen can only do what the material allows him todo. The combination of Verstappen and Red Bull is faster than weare at the moment. We have to beat them," Stella told Auto, Motor,and Sport. "Red Bull is good enough to make that performancepossible. With our car, it is impossible, with any driver in thecar, to be as fast as Red Bull in the second part of stints (in therace)." Stella: Verstappen performs at an 'extremely high' levelStella believes that Verstappen's ability to consistently performat a "high level" enables him to exploit tough conditions when luckseems to go against him. "You have to separate the car from thedriver," explained Stella. "Where Verstappen makes the differenceis that he always performs at an extremely high level, even in themost difficult conditions. "In the rain at Zandvoort or whenconditions change during Q3 in Brazil. Verstappen shows what thatRed Bull can do if you handle it perfectly."