McLaren reassured by 'ping-pong' game as Red Bull closes in

Andrea Stella has taken solace in the fact that a single upgrade can close a three-tenths gap, after Red Bull proved three tenths of a second quicker than McLaren at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen won at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, his second successive victory after triumphing at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

In doing so, Verstappen further aided Red Bull's late-season surge and dragged the constructors' championship fight for third into sharp focus.

Just seven points now separate McLaren and Red Bull, with the former on 339 points and the latter up to 332 after 17 rounds.

Lando Norris finished fourth in Singapore, with Oscar Piastri fifth, as Verstappen's pace advantage went unchallenged at the front.

The RB22s outscoring McLaren by 34 points to 23 across F1's original night race further increases the possibility of the Woking-based team slipping to fourth in the standings after back-to-back constructors' titles.

Despite the gap to Red Bull, the McLaren team principal insisted the result in Singapore matched his expectations, pointing instead to a tightly contested campaign in which small margins have repeatedly decided who comes out on top.

"We are actually pretty much fighting with Mercedes, and even when we were winning races, we were only on pole position by a few milliseconds," Stella told media, including RacingNews365.

"It was the case in Madrid. It was the case in Hungary. If we think about Zandvoort, during the sprint, we were not very competitive.

"So it's not like we have had a phase in which McLaren is ahead by a long way. If anything, this was seen at times in the race. Like, Lando in Hungary was very strong; in Madrid, for a few laps he was very strong.

"But we have to say as well that when you are in the lead, like we saw with Verstappen [in Singapore], with clean air, you can manage the tyres. It sort of amplifies some strengths."

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The 'ping-pong' explained

Stella went on to frame Red Bull's current form as part of a wider pattern of swings in competitiveness that has defined the season, rather than a sign that McLaren has fallen fundamentally behind with the MCL40.

"So overall, I think there are no big surprises. It was good to see that in Singapore, we were where we expected to be," Stella added.

"I think Verstappen and Red Bull are just taking advantage of the upgrades that they have delivered.

"And it's what we call this season: the ping-pong. Basically, people come with upgrades, even if, like in the case of Mercedes, I understand that they have some issues themselves.

"But... they can take a little step forward, and even if [in Singapore] Red Bull were kind of dominant compared to us, they had three tenths of a second [on McLaren].

"But three tenths of a second is a range that you can add with an upgrade."