McLaren Team Principal Addresses Concerns After Las Vegas Grand Prix, Title Fight Remains Open
LAS VEGAS – McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has defended the team’s approach to ride height following the unexpected porpoising issues experienced during the Las Vegas Grand Prix, while maintaining Lando Norris‘s championship aspirations remain viable. Despite a challenging race in Las Vegas, Norris holds a 24-point lead over his rivals wiht 58 points still available, including a sprint race this weekend.
To clinch the championship, Norris must outscore both rivals by two points nonetheless of his finishing position, or by one point if he wins Sunday’s race. Stella addressed the situation for the first time as the Las vegas event, stating the team did not believe they had taken excessive risks with ride height, despite the performance gains it offered.
“Based on the data we had acquired in practise, we do not believe we took excessive risks in terms of ride height and we also added a safety margin for qualifying and the race, compared to practice, in terms of clearance to the ground,” Stella said.
The team was surprised by the extent of the porpoising experienced during the race. “The specific cause that led to the situation was the unexpected occurrence of extensive porpoising, inducing large vertical oscillations of the car,” Stella explained. ”The level of porpoising was exacerbated by the conditions in which the car operated during the race, and it was not anticipated based on what we had seen in practice and based on the predictions of the car operating window in the race.”
