McLaren team principal has explained the cause of the Woking-based outfit’s surprise defeat to Max Verstappen in the fight for pole position at the Italian Grand Prix. 

Verstappen set a new Monza lap record to claim pole, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri having been forced to settle for second and third. 

The four-time world champion was just under one-tenth of a second quicker than Norris, while Piastri was over two-tenths adrift of the Red Bull driver. 

It is the first weekend in several races where McLaren has faced a genuine threat, despite having not always secured pole. McLaren has often boasted a significant advantage over long run pace; however, Verstappen’s pace looked very promising in practice. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is also just about in the mix, with Stella having explained that unlike recent rounds in Hungary and Zandvoort, Monza does not suit the MCL39’s strengths.

“I think there’s a few technical reasons why here we could not repeat the same level of competitiveness that we have had in Zandvoort and in Hungary,” Stella began explaining to select media including RacingNews365. 

“The car is very competitive in the corners even here, we see pretty much in every corner, we are the fastest. But the corners are relatively short duration. There’s only six, and the car is not the fastest in the straights. 

“So we gain a little bit in the corners, and we lose quite a bit of time down the straights. So overall, we cannot be as dominant as we were in some other tracks. In general, I would say that for the way we design our car, the car reaches its best efficiency at a higher level of rear wing. 

“And we know this is similar to last year, when we reduced the level of the rear wing, then the car I think relative to other competitors, it loses a little bit of overall aerodynamic efficiency. The level of grip is also very high, like we have seen the lap times we are running in Monza in the 1m 18s which is pretty impressive. 

“It means that not only there’s not many corners, but these corners are very short duration, because you brake so late and you accelerate so early, that the so called grip-limited zone is very limited. So if we think about the way the McLaren is designed, it’s not the most efficient at low drag. 

“The fact that the grip is very high and the track layout is at the opposite end compared to Zandvoort and Hungary, I think this explains pretty much why here we cannot enjoy any significant advantage. And if anything, we were in the mix in terms of being in condition to score the pole position.”