In McLaren’s view, Red Bull have not been painting the most accurate picture of the competitive picture between the two teams.
“Red Bull, they are very good at making fast cars,” Stella said. “They are very exceptionally good, I would say, at driving fast cars, and they are extremely good also in creating the narrative to their advantage.
“They exploit every possible opportunity to stay in the competition, and some of these opportunities sometimes is to create the narrative, like, ‘oh, we are making miracles here, the others should win every single practice session and qualifying and race.’
“This is the narrative created by some of our competitors, which we read occasionally and then we change the page and we focus on ourselves.”
The grid sets up an intriguing race. The title contenders are in reverse order, with an interloper between Norris and Piastri in the form of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
And Norris scents an opportunity to nail his first victory since the opening race of the season in Australia back in March.
In qualifying, he made errors at the last corner on both his laps, each time costing about 0.2secs, so he knows the pace is in the car.
“Max has always been good in qualifying and as a team we have struggled a little more in qualifying, whether that’s set-up or what, I’m not too sure,” Norris said.
“We know the Red Bulls are running high downforce, which allows them especially with the DRS (in qualifying) to be a lot more competitive. But it’s a long race and we know we have good pace in both conditions.
“I don’t just expect competition from Max. Kimi’s been quick all weekend and Oscar has been as well. So yeah, I just expect a tough race from all accounts.”