McLaren boss Andrea Stella says the team’s confidence in winning the title has increased following Lando Norris’ dominant victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Norris won the F1 race in Mexico by over 30 seconds.
This means Norris has topped the championship standings for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Sunday also marked McLaren’s first win since Zandvoort in August.
McLaren’s dominant performance has given Stella a strong case that they can beat Max Verstappen to the title.
“I feel more confident about the championship,” Stella said.
“This number has gone up because we have proven that we have a car that can win races and, in some situations, dominate races. This is the most important factor in getting Lando and Oscar in condition to pursue the drivers’ championship. I don’t think it’s a question of mathematics.
“I think it’s a matter of competitiveness. And it was important to see this competitiveness. And as for Oscar, I think he learned a lot from this weekend, even if he lost some points to Verstappen.”
“And that’s kind of an investment to be able to be competitive in all conditions at the end of the season. So overall, the teams and drivers definitely came out of this weekend feeling encouraged and optimistic heading into the end of the season.”
Norris: “Very convincing.”
The 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix was perhaps Norris’ most complete performance of his career to date.
He took pole position by nearly 0.3 seconds before controlling the race from the front.
Norris celebrates important victory
Unlike at Texas, Norris got the start and held the lead until turn one.
“If you look at the last few years at Lando, I think there have been weekends with this level of dominance at other venues. I think we saw it in Zandvoort as well last year,” Stella added.
“We saw it in Singapore, so I don’t think it’s the first time Lando has performed at this level. He was very convincing.”
“I think he was essentially the fastest in every session. He was able to take advantage of the performance and strength of the car.
“In a way, these special low-grip conditions are perfectly suited to Oscar’s natural way of extracting lap times, which is almost the opposite of his characteristics.
“I think that will only strengthen Lando’s confidence and that will be important heading into the last four races. But I think both Lando and Oscar will go into the last four races with reason to be confident.”
“And I think the team will also go into the last four races with a better understanding of how to get consistent performance out of the car, because in the last few races before Mexico we have left performance in the garage at times.”