While praising Max Verstappen after the Great of Brazil, Dr Helmut Marko slipped a tackle for Lando Norris.
Red Bull consultant called his driver a “true champion” while the Briton had a very average race, still punctuated by numerous errors (read here).
“Max was perfect and the same can't be said for Norris,” Marko said.
This prompted a response and comment from McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella when asked if, indeed, his driver was still making too many mistakes to beat a Max Verstappen at the top of his game in such weather conditions.
"No, I don't think that's a fair statement about Lando," Stella replies.
“First of all, I want to acknowledge that Max is now the big favorite for the World Championship. Of course, he was the favorite before, to be honest. He's a fantastic driver, he did a fantastic job and Lando is behind him at the moment.”
“We are proud of our position and Lando should be very proud of his performance.”
“A race like Brazil can happen, it can happen that you have problems here and there. We will learn from it, Lando too and we will become stronger and stronger.”
Verstappen may be the big favorite for the drivers' title, but Stella is not ready to throw in the towel: 2025 could be Norris' year.
“The dream continues for next season, the cars are going to be very similar next year. Overall, we have had a great and rapid development curve. We will also learn some good lessons from it.”
“Let's secure the constructors' title already. And if we don't win this year with Lando, which is likely, we will come back even stronger next year to challenge for both titles from the start of the season.”
