McLaren inspired to recreate Vettel championship heroics

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has revealed that the Woking-based outfit looked back on what Sebastian Vettel achieved in 2013, ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Vettel won every race in the 2013 season after the summer break ending pressure from Mercedes and Ferrari, securing the four-time world champion and Red Bull the titles. 

For Norris to win the drivers' championship, he needs a similar run of results to overcome his significant deficit to Max Verstappen. 

The British driver started the second half of the season in Zandvoort perfectly by claiming his second win of the campaign, reducing Verstappen's advantage to 70 points. 

It is the constructors' title which remains more within McLaren's reach, as the British outfit is just 30 points adrift of Red Bull. 

Despite the constructors' championship looking like a more realistic target, Stella is keeping both in mind after looking at what Vettel achieved just over a decade ago. 

“I think in the constructors’ championship, the game was on even before this event," Stella told select media including RacingNews365.

“In the drivers’ championship, we definitely wanted to keep our head and our focus on the fact that it was possible. 

"We even talked and looked at what Vettel did in 2013 and we said: ‘we may do the same. Why not?' We need to keep the focus. We need to think this is possible.”

Norris performance 'beyond expectation'

Norris requires a stunning second half of the season to claim his maiden F1 title and would break a record should he do so. 

Vettel currently holds the record for the most points overcome to win the drivers' crown, having been 39 points behind Fernando Alonso with seven races remaining in 2012. 

Verstappen's advantage over Norris was double this total ahead of Zandvoort, with now just nine races to go. 

The Briton finished a remarkable 22.9s ahead of Verstappen in the Netherlands to claim the biggest winning margin by a non-Red Bull driver since Lewis Hamilton won the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Norris' advantage was greater than even Stella predicted, with the MCL38's performance in Zandvoort having left McLaren very satisfied. 

"I have to say it was very encouraging from a performance point of view,” Stella added.

“At the same time, it happens at a track that seems to be just very suitable for our car, like Hungary was. 

"Even after Hungary, the [public] said, 'Ah, it's going to be P1, P2 every race'. But it's not. That just seems to be very track-dependent at the moment.

“But this was definitely beyond expectation in terms of qualifying performance, in terms of race performance, and to some extent, even the tyre degradation was very good, to the point that Lando scored the fastest lap of the race at the last lap.”