Photo: Race Pictures

McLaren prepared for trick up Verstappen's sleeve scenario in Abu Dhabi

08:22, 07 Dec

Updated: 10:10, 07 Dec

byKada Sarkozi

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella expects some great racing at the Abu Dhabi GP within the 'boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness.'

"I think we will see some interesting racing but I'm sure all this will happen within the boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness."

- Andrea Stella

For Max Verstappen, winning today's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is not enough to claim his fifth F1 world title in a row. In that case, he needs Lando Norris to finish at most fourth.

Asked about the tricks up Verstappen's sleeve, Stella told GPblog: "In terms of the options that Max has available to try and play his cards, honestly I'm not too worried. I think we will see some interesting racing but I'm sure all this will happen within the boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness."

Norris will line up in second place on the grid, alongside Verstappen. Looking ahead to Turn 1, the Italian team boss added: "I think from Lando's point of view, considering the inside in Turn 1 in Abu Dhabi, I think he will just be relatively prudent.

"He's one of those where from the inside you don't necessarily get a better exit, the car on the outside can close, so I think there will be some prudency, which is what I would recommend. Certainly Lando is in a very strong position from this point of view, so I think that's the approach."

Lando Norris will line up in second place on the grid in Abu Dhabi - Photo: Race Pictures

Can Verstappen bunch up the field?

The McLaren team boss explained that because of graining, managing the pace could be a factor anyway. He also doesn't that to improve for the Grand Prix.

He said: "I think we have seen in practice that the level of degradation and graining was above expectation. In a way, a shout-out to our strategy team that said let's save the hard tyres which is what we did. I think there's perhaps another couple of cars that saved or not even the hard tyres which in a race, where you have this level of graining and degradation, could be a good strategic option.

"In terms of the behaviour of the tyres improving in the race, I don't think this year we have seen much of an improvement of the graining behaviour because of the track rubbering in, this sort of behaviour I don't think they manifested themselves anymore at least at this moment in time of the technical regulation and of the tyres that we have available."

Therefore, Stella concluded: "In terms of how the race will unfold, there may be reasons to control the pace even from a tyre point of view, not necessarily because of some strategic reason for the lead car.

"So definitely we will see some pace control and it will be interesting to see whether the tyre degradation means that the race will be more on a one- or a two-stop. I think this is a bit of an open question."

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