Stella full of respect for imperious Verstappen in Imola: 'Fair play to Max'

McLaren have had a dominant start to the 2025 season so far, winning five of the first six races of the season, with Piastri taking four of them to lead the drivers' standings.

However, around the iconic Imola circuit, the papaya-coloured car was unable to match an impressive Verstappen, with Lando Norris finishing ahead of the Dutchman, while Piastri was only able to finish third and round off the podium.

A stunning overtake from Verstappen on the opening lap over Piastri was the key to his victroy, never relinqueshing the lead after that, and Stella knew that was the case.

"We tried a few things to put some pressure on, deviating with the strategy, which didn't pay off. There wasn't much on the hard tyres. We won the race in Saudi Arabia in corner one with a good launch and with a good manoeuvre in corner one. Today was a little bit of the opposite, a bit of variability in racing. That's ok. Two McLarens on the podium, strong for the constructors and good points for both drivers," continued the Italian.

There was also a late safety car after Kimi Antonelli retired with a car issue, and with Norris behind in P3 with the fresher tyres, he came over the team radio to ask if he could be let through straightaway to catch Verstappen.

"It was definitely a thought considering all the options as to how we were managing that situation," explained the McLaren team boss about that decision.

"But, certainly, we want to have Oscar having his own chances, so we wanted him to have his own chances at the restart, and we also assumed the principle that if Lando was able to pass Max, he should have been able to pass Oscar pretty easily considering that he was on very old tyres. So, in reality, if the pace delta was enough, things would have taken care of themselves. So we are happy with how things unfolded. I think both drivers think that was fair, and that's the way we go racing," concluded Stella.