Guenther Steiner has been told there is "not a cat in hell's
chance" McLaren will prioritise one of its drivers at this stage in
the F1 title race to combat the threat of the back-in-form Max
Verstappen. Four-time F1 champion Verstappen has won the last two
grands prix in Italy and Azerbaijan from pole position to close the
gap on long-time leader Oscar Piastri to 69 points, with the
Australian's team-mate Lando Norris a further 25 points adrift.
Former F1 team principal Steiner suggested McLaren "has to change
the papaya rules" based on the increased threat from Verstappen,
and that team boss Andrea Stella should "support one driver [to win
the title]. They maybe should have done that a little bit earlier".
Steiner added: "Obviously, they want to be fair, even wanting to
lose a world championship by being fair, I wouldn't do that."
Steiner's proposition, however, has been given short shrift by
RacingNews365 lead editor Ian Parkes in the latest edition of the
website's podcast, which you can catch here . "You can't prioritise
one driver over another, given the gap between the two," said
Parkes. "It's 25 points. "Let's run a hypothetical scenario this
weekend [for the Singapore Grand Prix]. Max wins, let's say Lando
second, Oscar third, because Lando quite comfortably had the edge
over Oscar last year. "So the gap [from Verstappen] to Lando is
down to 37 points, and 59 points to Oscar, and the the gap between
Lando and Oscar has come down by another three points, so that's
22. "Yes, Max might be coming up fast because he's now won three
grand prix in a row, for argument's sake, hypothetical again, but
do you honestly think Andreas Stella is going to turn around to
Lando Norris and say to him, 'Sorry, mate, Max is coming really
strong here, he's won the last three grands prix, I know you're
only 22 points behind Oscar, but we're going to prioritise Oscar
now for the championship'. "Not a cat in hell's chance is that ever
going to happen. "They've got to continue to let those two guys
race as hard and as fast as they can, relying on the dominance that
they've had up until that point, the strength of that car,
believing that it will be good at certain circuits over Red Bull."
Article continues below the poll Verstappen to be tested in
Singapore Parkes feels the situation will become clearer this
weekend regarding the performance of the RB21 that was supreme
around Monza and the Baku City Circuit following the addition of a
new floor and associated components. Verstappen has never won in
Singapore, and it remains to be seen if the new floor will allow
him the opportunity to end that drought given the high downforce
levels required for the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in stark
contrast to the low downforce needed for Monza and Baku. "We're
going to know more about that RB21 out of this weekend's grand prix
in Singapore, more than either of the past two grand prix, that's
for certain," said Parkes. "[For McLaren] it's going to be focusing
on those two guys, maximising what they can get out of those two
guys every weekend because even if that's the top-three pecking
order, it's going to take something catastrophic for Max to
overhaul both, never mind just one of them. There's still a lot
that's got to happen. "We saw something catastrophic happen to
Oscar [in Baku, crashing in qualifying and the race], but we're
probably talking about that's got to happen for another two of the
upcoming grand prix to really thrust Max into the equation. "And
it's got to happen for both drivers as well, not just Oscar in
isolation. There has to be retirements on both sides of the McLaren
garage to help Max, to thrust himself fully into contention for
this title. "Because as I say, 69 points and 44 points, that's
still a big margin to overcome, even though there's 199 on the
table."
chance" McLaren will prioritise one of its drivers at this stage in
the F1 title race to combat the threat of the back-in-form Max
Verstappen. Four-time F1 champion Verstappen has won the last two
grands prix in Italy and Azerbaijan from pole position to close the
gap on long-time leader Oscar Piastri to 69 points, with the
Australian's team-mate Lando Norris a further 25 points adrift.
Former F1 team principal Steiner suggested McLaren "has to change
the papaya rules" based on the increased threat from Verstappen,
and that team boss Andrea Stella should "support one driver [to win
the title]. They maybe should have done that a little bit earlier".
Steiner added: "Obviously, they want to be fair, even wanting to
lose a world championship by being fair, I wouldn't do that."
Steiner's proposition, however, has been given short shrift by
RacingNews365 lead editor Ian Parkes in the latest edition of the
website's podcast, which you can catch here . "You can't prioritise
one driver over another, given the gap between the two," said
Parkes. "It's 25 points. "Let's run a hypothetical scenario this
weekend [for the Singapore Grand Prix]. Max wins, let's say Lando
second, Oscar third, because Lando quite comfortably had the edge
over Oscar last year. "So the gap [from Verstappen] to Lando is
down to 37 points, and 59 points to Oscar, and the the gap between
Lando and Oscar has come down by another three points, so that's
22. "Yes, Max might be coming up fast because he's now won three
grand prix in a row, for argument's sake, hypothetical again, but
do you honestly think Andreas Stella is going to turn around to
Lando Norris and say to him, 'Sorry, mate, Max is coming really
strong here, he's won the last three grands prix, I know you're
only 22 points behind Oscar, but we're going to prioritise Oscar
now for the championship'. "Not a cat in hell's chance is that ever
going to happen. "They've got to continue to let those two guys
race as hard and as fast as they can, relying on the dominance that
they've had up until that point, the strength of that car,
believing that it will be good at certain circuits over Red Bull."
Article continues below the poll Verstappen to be tested in
Singapore Parkes feels the situation will become clearer this
weekend regarding the performance of the RB21 that was supreme
around Monza and the Baku City Circuit following the addition of a
new floor and associated components. Verstappen has never won in
Singapore, and it remains to be seen if the new floor will allow
him the opportunity to end that drought given the high downforce
levels required for the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in stark
contrast to the low downforce needed for Monza and Baku. "We're
going to know more about that RB21 out of this weekend's grand prix
in Singapore, more than either of the past two grand prix, that's
for certain," said Parkes. "[For McLaren] it's going to be focusing
on those two guys, maximising what they can get out of those two
guys every weekend because even if that's the top-three pecking
order, it's going to take something catastrophic for Max to
overhaul both, never mind just one of them. There's still a lot
that's got to happen. "We saw something catastrophic happen to
Oscar [in Baku, crashing in qualifying and the race], but we're
probably talking about that's got to happen for another two of the
upcoming grand prix to really thrust Max into the equation. "And
it's got to happen for both drivers as well, not just Oscar in
isolation. There has to be retirements on both sides of the McLaren
garage to help Max, to thrust himself fully into contention for
this title. "Because as I say, 69 points and 44 points, that's
still a big margin to overcome, even though there's 199 on the
table."
The post Guenther Steiner McLaren suggestion shot down: 'Not a cat in hell's chance' appeared first on RacingNews365.