Is the pressure starting to show at McLaren?

“That’s what happens when there’s a car in front of you just cruising two seconds in front. So that’s noted. Will be remembered as well.” Max Verstappen was not happy at the end of qualifying, having felt he was negatively impacted in the final sector by Lando Norris slowly returning to the pits after his own final lap.

Norris had run early, a sign of McLaren’s predicament in the face of a mounting challenge from external threats, while Verstappen was the last car on the road and ended up aborting his attempt having been just 0.02s down on George Russell’s pole time entering the Turn 16/17 chicane in the closing stages.

The complaints from Verstappen did not receive much in the way of sympathy when heard by Norris.

“They always complain – they complain about everything,” Norris said. “That’s Red Bull. I didn’t even know. I was like three seconds ahead or something. I can’t work it out either.”

It was hardly a war of words, but it was a touch of needle between two drivers who we can increasingly describe is in the title fight with the way the competitive picture is heading.

McLaren is in defensive mode, as it was in Baku, and so Norris went out first for his final Q3 run in order to avoid any potential yellow or red flags. As it was, he couldn’t improve on his fifth place on the grid.

Red Bull, by contrast, can afford to be far more aggressive. With Verstappen 69 points behind Oscar Piastri and 44 adrift of Norris, outscoring the McLarens is imperative, and with an improving car and a significant deficit to overcome, it has nothing to lose and everything to gain. So Verstappen was last on the road, risking his final lap being interrupted in exchange for the potential reward of the highest track evolution.

Piastri went just before Verstappen and was satisfied, as Norris remains his closest threat and he will start two positions ahead of his teammate. But he will be behind the Red Bull driver once again, on a track where Red Bull was not certain to be competitive.

“The last three weekends now have been really, really nice,” Verstappen said. “Up until that point, we were always throwing the setup left and right because it was just not working. Sometimes you had a weekend where it was OK, but now, the last three weekends, it’s been solid.

“We’ve just been fine-tuning, and that’s exactly what you want throughout the weekend. Of course, some layouts will be a bit better for us, some probably a bit more difficult, but the basis of the car is a lot more solid, and I think that is what you need.”

Verstappen warned on Thursday that the last high-downforce circuit – Zandvoort – had not been promising for Red Bull. But so far this weekend all of the evidence is of a package that can beat McLaren at a track Norris dominated on last year.

There are a number of factors in play making a rougher road for McLaren lately, team principal Andrea Stella says. Sam Bloxham/Getty Images

According to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, that shift in the competitive picture has come due to a combination of factors, including a weakness in the MCL39.

“Our reflection is more general in terms of our competitiveness and it’s related to the fact that overall I think there were some cars that were faster than us today, and in particular Mercedes and Red Bull,” Stella said. “And we seem to observe a pattern, having been in Baku and then here in Singapore, that resembles what we have seen in Canada. And when we have braking with bumps and with curbs, in Canada we were not the best car, in Baku we were not the best car, and in Singapore we are not the best car.

“So this is, from a technical point of view, not an entire surprise, because we know in which conditions we develop our car. It’s actually important information, even in consideration of how we can better develop our car, so that we include those conditions as well. But in general I think we see that we gained the time in mid-corner, but every mid-corner is kind of too short.

“[Singapore] is dominated by braking and traction, and with bumps and curbs we just seem to be suffering a bit. So I think throughout qualifying, and throughout the event, we saw that Mercedes were in condition to put together some very competitive sectors, Max the same, and our drivers were making comments which even themselves resembled the comments of Baku and the comments of Canada. So simply we are not the most competitive.”

Stella also sees the field closing up at the front due to the updates brought by rival teams in recent rounds, while McLaren’s program was fully switched off earlier.

“There were, if anything, little parts that we took to Monza, but otherwise we were just focusing on 2026 for a long time, while we have seen that some competitors kept bring some new upgrades trackside, and Red Bull certainly is one of those,” Stella said.

“They have a new front wing here, had a new floor in Monza, and we needed to wait a few races at low-downforce [tracks] like Monza and Baku, and then this one to identify that there’s also a pattern from a technical point of view. I think one is the pattern of braking with bumps and curbs, and the other one is with the low downforce like we saw in Monza and Baku. So there’s a few factors compounding, I think.

“There’s certainly the fact that we haven’t developed the car for a long time, and some track characteristics. Having said that, I would expect that Austin will still be a bit of a struggle for us, because the corners are tight in many braking areas. Our tracks still remain the likes of Brazil, Qatar, Abu Dhabi.

“Perhaps earlier on in the season, when we had a bit more advantage, we could go better at some other circuits, but like I said, some competitors kept developing their car, or understanding better how to use their car, so now the field has become even more competitive.”

Despite those factors, and the fact that Stella believes McLaren will come under increasing pressure from Verstappen during the rest of this season, the Italian is intent on not letting that become a burden for his team.

“It’s interesting for everyone to see what Red Bull were able to do in a circuit like this for a couple of reasons,” he said. “One is that they were competitive in Monza, very competitive, and then they were competitive in Baku, and we thought, ‘Let’s see whether this depends on using low level of drag, small rear wings, and it can be repeated at high level drag and big rear wings.’ And the second reason being that here in Singapore they might have struggled a bit in the past.

“Well, the evidence is that they might have resolved both of these high drag and Singapore factors, but this is not a surprise. It’s Red Bull, they are extremely capable, Max is a driver that is just, Max Verstappen, I don’t think we need to make any further comments, so it’s no surprise that they are in the game. It’s tight, and it’s interesting.

“Obviously we would like to make Formula 1 boring, and we have done it sometimes at some of the events, but normally Formula 1 is competitive, it’s tight. You have to accept the fight, and that’s what we are doing.”

A positive outlook for now, but in the heat of Singapore on Sunday night, Stella will have to ensure his McLaren team stays cool amid Verstappen’s challenge. A further dent when it comes to Piastri’s lead and the momentum really will be shifting.