1 week Ago By Thomas Maher
Jacques Villeneuve believes McLaren’s championship claims after Brazil are “very odd”, and questioned the team’s winning mentality. McLaren boss Andrea Stella responded to Max Verstappen’s dramatic win in Brazil by stating that, for his team, the result changed nothing because “the Constructors’ Championship was always our priority.” McLaren enjoys a 36-point lead over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, and a 49-point lead over Red Bull , with three race weekends left to go – a triple-header of Grands Prix in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.
It’s a reasonably comfortable position to be in, given the momentum that has been on McLaren’s side for most of the season, but its hopes of claiming the Drivers’ Championship took a serious blow at the Brazilian Grand Prix. While Lando Norris started the race from pole with Max Verstappen 17th due to an engine grid penalty, the race evolved in such a way that Verstappen won by almost 20 seconds while Norris came home in sixth. The points blow means Verstappen’s lead has opened up to 62 points – a near unscalable challenge with a maximum of 86 points left to score in the championship.
With Norris almost certainly now resigned to the runner-up spot, it led McLaren boss Andrea Stella to claim that the Drivers’ Championship was never the main target – despite McLaren introducing team orders in recent races in a bid to help Norris’ challenge. The Spaniard’s claim that the Constructors’ Championship was “always the priority” has been addressed by 1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, who reflected on the dramatic weekend in Brazil during an interview with Grosvenor Sport. “Lando Norris’ luck turned halfway through the race in Brazil because of what happened with the Safety Car (in Brazil),” he said.
“There’s a flaw in the regulations and he paid a heavy price and that was extremely bad luck – there was nothing he could have done with that. Then the pace that Verstappen had in the second half of the race came out of nowhere which was incredible. “It’s not in Lando’s hands anymore.
All he can do is race hard and fast and hope that the Red Bull doesn’t score. That’s all.” Villeneuve said that, for most fans, the winner of the Drivers’ Championship wins the biggest prize – although, for the teams, a difference in position in the Constructors’ can mean a huge difference, circa millions, in the prize money awarded to it.
“McLaren said the weirdest thing after Brazil, and that was the team’s priority, which was not the Drivers’ Championship but the Constructors’ title. That is very odd. That’s what teams that don’t win say,” Villeneuve said.
“Ok, the Constructors’ title brings you money. But nobody cares about the Constructors’. People only remember who the World Champion driver was and the team was linked to that world champion.
“And ultimately in people’s minds, that’s the team that was world champion. The constructors is only good on paper and for the extra money, it brings to the team. That’s about it.
Outside of the team itself nobody actually cares about it.” 👉 Lando Norris car collection: Custom McLaren 765LT Spider among his eclectic selection 👉 Max Verstappen car collection: What supercars does the F1 World Champion own? As a result, the French-Canadian said the admission indicates McLaren “didn’t really help Lando out that much” and praised the three-time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen as he closes in on his fourth. “Verstappen winning in Vegas, that’s a good place to win it if he does! It’s an exciting place to win it,” he said.
“The odds are very much in Max’s favour. He’s just got to go get around and finish. If he does win it in Vegas, he’ll be a very deserving champion.
No issues there. It will still have been a great championship. And it was already unexpected to have someone bring the fight to Red Bull and to Max.
“Whatever happens till the end of the season, it will still have been a great championship and a good battle. And whichever of the two wins, they’ll be a deserving champion.” Read Next: ‘Near impossible’ – Martin Brundle reveals his struggles with iconic grid walk segment.
