Since becoming team principal at McLaren, Andrea Stella has overseen tremendous progress at the team. In the space of less than eighteen months, McLaren have catapulted themselves from the midfield to the very front. However, Stella is not satisfied with occasional victories – he wants his team to dominate what remains of this season.
McLaren have the potential to blow away the competition, believes Andrea Stella
A strong foundation
Red Bull might be leading both Championships, but the momentum is firmly against them. McLaren are faster than anyone on the grid, especially after the updates introduced in Zandvoort.
Unlike their immediate rivals, the Woking-based team have a clear development path.
After their first update package in Miami, McLaren made the conscious decision to spend months evaluating the MCL38 – only bringing updates to the track with absolute certainty they would produce the desired effect.
This has allowed Andrea Stella’s personnel to avoid the development pitfalls that have haunted Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.
Of course, the last few months have not been perfect for McLaren. Poor starts, questionable strategy calls and general operational clumsiness have proven costly in previous events.
With this in mind, Andrea Stella wants to see a change in mentality going forward:
“In the drivers’ championship, we definitely wanted to focus on the fact that it is possible,” he said after the Dutch GP.
“We even talked about it and looked at what Vettel did in 2013, and we said – ‘We could do the same thing. Why not?’
“We have to keep the focus; we have to believe that it is possible.”
McLaren strive to improve in all areas
As mentioned previously, McLaren are working to eliminate the unforced errors that cost them points in the early stages of 2024.
This will, of course, be an important part of any future success they have this season.
However, the ambitions at Woking go far beyond this.
Andrea Stella’s aspirations for a winning streak do not include the assumption that Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari will stay within touching distance from race to race.
Instead, the McLaren team principal wants to see upgrades further increase the MCL38’s advantage.
Stella wants to create a big enough advantage that allows for his team to win even in the event mistakes are made, such as Norris and Piastri’s poor starts last weekend.
It is no accident that he referenced the second half of Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 season, one of the most dominant spells in F1 history.
Of course, these hopes are obviously easier said than done.
Still, it must be said that rivals are genuinely weary of what McLaren are capable of achieving.
