McLaren wary of time sensitive Dutch GP weapon at Verstappen's disposal

McLaren team principal Andre Stella warns against the Max Verstappen threat, after his two drivers completed another one-two finish in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri marginally secured pole position for Sunday's race in Zandvoort, defeating his teammate Lando Norris. Only 0.012 seconds separated the two McLaren drivers on this occasion.

In Hungary, Piastri also qualified ahead of Norris, but the Briton could win after he opted for a one-stop strategy.

Stella warns of Verstappen in Zandvoort

Behind the two McLarens, it was Max Verstappen who completed the Top 3 in the Netherlands.

Looking ahead to the Grand Prix from a strategy point of view, the Italian team principal also named the four-time world champion as a contender.

"The strategy is one of the variables through which the competition between Lando and Oscar can express itself, can be unfolded. But let me say first of all that we have Lando, we have Oscar, we have Max Verstappen," he began to GPblog among others.

"So first thing we have to do in the interest of the team and in the interest of Lando and Oscar is to make sure that we beat Max, who is not very far, he was two tenths away from us.

"Based on the difficulties in overtaking and the fact that there could be also some weather, first of all, we have to make sure that we as a team, we get the best result for the team with Lando and Oscar finishing possibly in the order that the car performance would say.

"At the moment, we can see that McLaren is the fastest car," he added.

McLaren drivers can use different strategies following the team's rules

"When it comes to the options from a strategic point of view in between our two drivers, we do have some rules for that. I'm not going to share what rules they are. But whatever you have seen so far in terms of how the strategy has been utilized, it's always been within our rules," Stella continued.

"It's perfectly right, for instance, that there are deviations in terms of strategy. And not necessarily this is gambling.

"Like in Hungary, the one-stop wasn't completely out of the cards. It was unlikely to be one of the strategies, but it wasn't simply a matter of a gamble, let me say. And even here, the strategy is not far between a one- and a two-stop."

Verstappen has a 'powerful weapon,' Stella explains

Stella also underlined a factor that could make the Dutchman dangerous on Sunday.

"It will be interesting, not only between the two McLaren drivers, but also with the other drivers. Max, for instance, he has a new soft that he saved from qualifying. And it could be a pretty powerful weapon, if you can deploy this weapon strategically at the right time."

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