Stella: We will continue to chase however we see fit.

      Both McLaren drivers climbed the podium in Monza, but in terms of pace the British team's car was today inferior to Red Bull, and Andrea Stella was forced to admit it.

      Andrea Stella: “In reality we already saw in qualifying that Max Verstappen was a tenth or two quicker than us, but today, when he took the position from Lando and regained the lead, at first we thought it was because Norris’s car had a low battery charge.

      But it was actually the pace of our car, and we soon realised that. In addition, in the first stint we had no advantage in terms of tyre degradation, although the MCL39 usually allows more gentle tyre management. That’s when it became clear that we could only win if something happened during the race.

      Max did a great job, and congratulations to Red Bull on the victory. Still, second and third is not a bad result on a track we knew was not particularly well suited to our car.”

      At the pit stop, when the McLaren mechanics were servicing Lando Norris’s car, there was a hold-up and Oscar Piastri was able to get ahead of his teammate, but the team asked the Australian to give the position back to his teammate.

      “Undoubtedly, that was a decision by the team leadership,” Stella confirmed. “It was related not only to the problem at the pit stop, but also to the sequence in which we carried out the stops. Of course, we intended to keep the positions after the pit stops, but circumstances were such that the team had to intervene for the drivers to return to their original positions.

      As for the issue at the pit stop, we have not yet had time to get to the bottom of its causes, but we will analyse everything in detail so that next time we operate without failures.

      And I would like to thank Oscar, who did not make things difficult for his teammate at all. Oscar and Lando again showed that they remain true to our principles and adhere to the rules we apply in races.

      There is no number-one or number-two driver in our team — we have two excellent drivers, and both are capable of fighting for the championship. We will continue to race as we see fit, acting correctly and sticking to the principles of the sport.”