McLaren team boss Andrea Stella explains why his team is not performing at its usual level in Las Vegas. The MCL38 has been the strongest car on the grid for some time, but so far it has been struggling on the street circuit in the gambling city. According to Stella, this is mainly due to the cold weather conditions.
McLaren is still fighting for the constructors’ title and is now watching as Ferrari gets a chance to catch up with the British racing team in Las Vegas. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are starting the race on the street circuit in second and fourth place respectively, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are starting the race from sixth and eighth place. It’s a striking situation for McLaren, after having the strongest car on the grid for most of the season.
Team boss Andrea Stella knows why McLaren is struggling with performance on the Las Vegas Street Circuit. “It’s very cold, (as a result, we have) little grip. There is a requirement to generate a very high top speed. So the cars are operating outside the normal window in which you develop and optimize them. And we have to say that under these conditions we are struggling to generate consistent grip. And it’s (during qualifying) just difficult to put the laps together,” the Italian explains to Sky Sports.
Will conditions be different during the race?
Ferrari is only 36 points behind constructors’ leader McLaren, and can therefore make a big move in Las Vegas. However, Stella still hopes that things will go better during the race on Saturday evening local time. “Hopefully, the conditions during the race tomorrow, once you start driving continuous laps and you can generate some tyre temperature, will return to a more normal window and we can be more competitive,” the Italian concludes.
