Red Bull driver Max Verstappen opened up about the strengths of the McLaren car that are contributing to its dominance this season.
Verstappen started the season hoping to defend the title — Red Bull had the entire winter offseason to improve the car and close the gap to McLaren.
During the second half of last season, McLaren started leading the field with its car, though the Dutch driver’s early-season lead was too big for Lando Norris to cut down.
This season, things have unfolded similarly to the majority of last season, with McLaren bringing the fastest car to every track.
Apart from a few unexpected results from Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell, the Woking-based team has continued to dominate.
The Red Bull driver highlighted two key aspects of the MCL39’s dominance.
“First of all, the McLaren car is definitely better on its tyres,” the Dutchman said.
“It keeps the tyres alive a lot nicer than all other cars on the grid. You can clearly see that in the wet, especially on the intermediates.
“If you have good tyre management, it comes out even more on that tyre because it’s more fragile. It overheats even faster, and they definitely have that very well under control.
“At the same time, I think their medium-speed performance is incredible compared to, I would say, everyone else on the grid.
“The rotation they have on the front axle without losing the rear is something that is also quite incredible to see. That’s something that we are trying to achieve as well, of course.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella agreed with Verstappen’s assessment.
“That’s an easy answer because it can be answered by just looking at the GPS data,” Stella said.
“When you look at the speed comparison with some other teams, the data says that McLaren can generate the highest mid-corner speed in medium-speed corners. So, I think the assessment of Max is correct.
“We still have our weak points. If you look at a very high-speed corner like Copse, for instance, or Pouhon, we are not the fastest car.
“Likewise, probably in the very low-speed [corners], we are not the fastest car. But the majority of corners in the championship happen to be medium-speed corners, and certainly in that range, our car is, data in hand, the best.”
The fight for the Drivers’ Championship is now between both McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Norris, with the Aussie up nine points.
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