After the first practice at Monza, Andrea Stella believes Red Bull has a very fast car.
Max Verstappen clocked the quickest time, and Stella thinks he might not be the only one to watch in Italy.
Red Bull’s Consistent Performance
“Red Bull is Red Bull, so you always expect them to be very competitive. I think we have seen even in Belgium that they were strong. We know that they have a very efficient car, can easily generate top speed, retaining good downforce. So for us, no different than always. There will be four teams in contention to win the race,” said Stella.
Stella also hinted at surprises in Monza. “And I think the Free Practice one has also told us that there’s some potential outliers because as we said, with this tarmac and some special setups that you can run here, it could be that some midfield cars join the party at the top,” he added.
McLaren’s Prospects at Monza
Stella was happy with McLaren’s performance in the first practice session. “Based on FP1, I think the car is pretty much like where we expected it to be. So no surprises in terms of competitiveness.”
He explained why McLaren has been doing well on certain tracks: “When we consider tracks like Zandvoort, Hungary, Barcelona, I think it’s the track layout that favours McLaren at the moment. We seem to be good in medium speed corners. We seem to be good in long corners, high downforce.”
However, Stella warned that Monza could be more challenging than other circuits. “So we are cautious because here we are almost polar opposites. Short corners and long straights where you have to generate top speed and a small rear wing. So I think we need to be careful and maximise the potential, above all.”
Fans might wonder if McLaren can keep up their good form.
What do you think? Can McLaren shine at Monza or will Red Bull dominate again?
