McLaren reject missed opportunity claims

Andrea Stella does not believe the Belgian Grand Prix was a missed opportunity to further reduce the advantage Red Bull holds in the constructors' championship.

The McLaren team principal saw the Woking squad further reduce the Milton Keynes outfit's gap at the top to just 42 points heading into the summer break - taking nine points out of the lead at Spa-Francorchamps.

After the Miami Grand Prix in May, Red Bull held 115 points over McLaren. However, the suite of upgrades the Papaya team introduced in Florida has vaulted it into championship contention.

Buoyed by the poor form of Sergio Perez, McLaren has chipped away at Red Bull's once seemingly unassailable lead, as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri put together a string of 10 consecutive podium finishes between them, including an impressive one-two at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

However, with Max Verstappen on the back foot due to 10-place grid penalty for a power unit change at the following round in Belgian, it was put to Stella that his team could maybe have taken more points out of Red Bull.

"With the way the race unfolded, I think it's still important that we gained points on Red Bull," the 53-year-old told media including RacingNews365 when asked if it was a missed opportunity.

"If you had told me before the race 'are you gonna gain points on Red Bull?' I'm not so sure, because I was expecting [Max] Verstappen to come through, and if you see last year's race, [Sergio] Perez finished something like 10 seconds, 15 seconds from Verstappen for a one-two. So, we gained nine points, 42 now behind [Red Bull]."

'Impossible' to have 'perfect weekend' in F1

Verstappen was quickest during qualifying, but with his penalty applied, the Dutchman started P11. Norris and Piastri occupied fourth and fifth, respectively, whilst Perez lined up on the front row.

The three-time drivers' champion was able to work through the field to fourth - finishing ahead of Norris, who crossed the line one place behind. However, Perez slipped back from second, limping home an underwhelming seventh.

Meanwhile, Piastri got the better of his team-mate at the start - as Norris ran wide - and worked his way past Charles Leclerc and Perez as the Red Bull fell back to clinch second position behind the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

It could have been victory, had it not been for the Australian missing his pit stop marks, hitting McLaren's front jack man and losing around two seconds in the process.

However, to Stella, there was not much in more his drivers could have done, insisting it is "impossible" to have a "perfect weekend" in F1.

"Yes, you can identify some cases in which if we had a perfect weekend, you could say that potentially we could have qualified one or two positions ahead - I don't think we could beat Red Bull [in qualifying] - we didn't have enough grip to do so," the Italian added.

"Then [in the race], with the little issue with Lando [Norris], lap one, the little issue at the pit stop [Oscar Piastri's second stop]. But the reality is that nobody has a perfect event - it's just impossible."