Andrea Stella admits to being surprised by McLaren’s success after thinking China would be a ‘damage prevention event’

Team Principal Andrea Stella admitted he had his reservations about how McLaren would fare in China before watching Lando Norris take the podium in Shanghai. The Brit scored a fine second place in China after successfully holding off Sergio Perez in the RB20 for his best result of the season so far.

With Red Bull having recorded 1-2 wins from the first four races, finishing ahead of Perez was not a big deal for Norris, nor was he confident of beating the Ferraris given the high level of performance the Scuderia have put in this season – especially in a song that was not expected to match MCL38.

READ MORE: Norris delighted with Chinese doctor’s ‘surprise’ podium as he reveals Ferrari’s pre-race bet

McLaren specialize in high-speed cornered tracks like Suzuka, but the few unique turns to open Shanghai favor cars that can clean up their pace and then accelerate from the slower stuff.

So, the buzz before the race was that McLaren would mix it up with Aston Martin and Mercedes for the bottom 10 places.

Instead, Norris came in second while teammate Oscar Piastri scored in eighth place. Later, Stella was asked by Sky Sports if he was surprised by the results.

“And we are! We honestly came here thinking this was a damage prevention event, but it’s actually been our most competitive event,” he said later.

READ MORE: Perez has bad luck with the Safety Car in China after missing out on P2 as he vows to fight in Miami

“A good position for the Sprint, I think that in the Sprint it would have been possible to finish second without an issue at the first corner, yesterday’s competition in qualifying and again a strong race! So, it is clear that we have to adjust something in our understanding, but Formula 1 once many of them surprise you because they are sensitive to many parameters.

“But anyway, a good result, a good surprise, I’m very happy for the men and women at McLaren, a great effort.”

Norris’s race was made by the way he was able to widen his opening position and thus avoid an early pit stop, instead he was able to save time by jumping under the Virtual Safety Car, although that was not a straightforward decision in itself.

Charles Leclerc got into contention as soon as the VSC was called but Norris had to go around again before getting in and was lucky that the VSC lasted long enough for him to stay in front of the Ferrari. That also moved Norris ahead of Perez – but while that piece of luck helped McLaren grab the podium, it wasn’t the only factor that ensured he took home P2.

READ MORE: Leclerc shares ‘big surprise’ that risked his Chinese doctor as Sainz says Ferrari ‘needs to do better’

“Unfortunately, the time was that (VSC) was right after Lando passed through the hole, and then we were very afraid that the VSC would be short, I should say fortunately it was long so we didn’t have any loss. , and for us it worked very well, we got second place,” said Stella.

“Then in fairness we maintained second place thanks to the car’s pace and the amazing driving from Lando. Let me also admit that Oscar had a lot of damage from the diffuser point of view, he lost a lot of aerodynamic power so we are happy that he was able to stay on the mark.

McLaren’s jump in form makes the podium battle even more exciting for the upcoming races, and Norris’ race also showed that Red Bull can be vulnerable when forced to fight through traffic. The Stella surprise is the benefit of the fans at the moment, even if McLaren still don’t have a Grand Prix win to show for their hard work.