Is Verstappen now a serious threat? Stella’s answer says it all

Speaking to GPblog after a race that saw Lando Norris finish second and the championship leader only fifth, the Italian said that: “The danger for me is the same as there was in Baku, and something I said yesterday in which I said very clearly in capital letters that Max was in the contest for the Drivers' Championship.

“And when I say something, I mean it. It's not like if I say it, I think it's because of the experience, because of understanding the trend, the circuits that we were gonna face from back homewards.

Even though the championship fight is increasingly shaping up to be a three-way battle rather than the two-horse race it had been for most of the season, Stella believes nothing will change from McLaren’s perspective — the team’s approach, he insists, will remain exactly the same.

Verstappen was in a league of his own at the Circuit of the Americas, delivering a commanding drive to take victory in the United States Grand Prix. Controlling the pace from start to finish, the Dutchman left no room for doubt as he tightened the gap in the championship race.

While Norris slightly closed in on his teammate, it was Verstappen who gained the most, cutting his deficit to the Australian down to 40 points — a big step forward from the 63-point gap he faced at the start of the Austin weekend.