McLaren highlight Red Bull evidence in Max Verstappen gap explanation

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has said Max Verstappen's sprint pole at the United States Grand Prix confirms Red Bull has "improved" the RB21.

Having been to low and high-downforce tracks in recent rounds, the medium-speed Circuit of the Americas was the final overarching track profile for the updated Red Bull to prove itself at.

The upgraded floor delivered by the Milton Keynes-based squad for the Italian Grand Prix has — along with revamped internal ways of working and a revised approach to grand prix weekends — been a game-changer for the team.

It has thrust Verstappen back into regular contention for victories and afforded him a long shot at a fifth-consecutive F1 drivers' championship.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies remarked that McLaren "killed" his team at the last medium-downforce challenge, in Zandvoort, but his McLaren adversary believes that to no longer be the case.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Stella said: "I think this is actually a relatively genuine representation of the competitive field. It's very close at the top.

"It confirms that Red Bull have definitely improved their car. They are competitive now and can fight for victories and pole position on every kind of circuit."

Verstappen was seven-hundredths of a second faster than Norris in the leading MCL39 at COTA, but Stella was still pleased by the result.

"It's also positive to see that our car here is competitive compared to some other venues in which we struggled a little bit," the Italian said.

"So I think it's a good result, not the result we want. We are here for pole positions, obviously, but I think it's a good foundation for the sprint race, and also a good foundation to see where we can fine-tune a little bit of performance and give it another go at pole position [for the grand prix]."

Reason for optimisim

Stella pointed out that tyre degradation should be a factor in Texas, given the high temperatures expected throughout the weekend.

He highlighted how that plays into McLaren's hands. This will no doubt be exacerbated by tyre supplier Pirelli's decision to have a jump in compounds between the hard and the medium rubber for just the second time this season.

"I think here in Austin, we should observe more tyre degradation," the 54-year-old suggested. "The conditions are very hot. I think we come from races where it was a little bit of a procession, because there wasn't much tyre degradation.

"I would expect here that the race or the sprint may be more entertaining, and there could be more variability based on the behaviour of the tyres.

"Normally, our car is decent when there is tyre degradation. So for many reasons, including this one, we look forward to the sprint race."