McLaren Team Principal, Andrea Stella has led the team from the midfield to the front, now fighting for the Constructors Championship.
McLaren is now the talk of the paddock. The Woking-based team went from being a midfield team, fighting for points, to the leader of the Constructors Championship in the span of a season. But the improvements couldn’t have been possible without the mind of Andrea Stella.
Back when McLaren announced the Italian as their TP back in 2022, some expressed their doubts. And yet, Stella has proved all of them wrong. For sure, it took some time and a lot of hard work. Last season, at the beginning of 2023, the papaya team was still struggling to get in the points. The disappointment for the project of the MCL60 was already clear during the tests in Bahrain.
However, already during the Grand Prix in Austria in 2023, the results started to show with Lando Norris close to the podium. Heading to Silverstone, progress showed when Norris was on the second step of the podium and Oscar Piastri was in P4.
From then, under the leadership of Andrea Stella, McLaren became Red Bull’s biggest rival. And now the gap with the Bulls is finally closed.
Continuing to climb the table. 💪 pic.twitter.com/r1sN40N60o
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 23, 2024
Big changes
In order to secure the young talents of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were both given multi-year contracts, tying their future to the Papaya team. Rob Marshall, ex-Chief Engineering Officer for Red Bull, also signed with McLaren for the 2024 season. At Woking, Marshall became the new Technical Director.
Stella helped to resolve the issues on the MCL60, working to resolve the problems with the downforce, but also increasing the aerodynamic load. He also made the car competitive in low-speed corners and improved the top speed. At the end of the 2023 F1 season, McLaren was back in the fight with Mercedes and Ferrari. Red Bull was way ahead, but it was obvious that Stella’s team was on the right track with 2024 coming up.
When the 2024 season began all the eyes were on Piastri and Norris. They started the season with a few difficulties, but 6 rounds on, things really clicked for the Papaya team. Since the Grand Prix in Miami, where Lando Norris took his maiden win in Formula 1, McLaren became the best car on track. Oscar Paistri is now a two-time winner, and Norris just tasted his third win in Singapore. During the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the team celebrated its new position as leader in the Constructors standings.
Naturally, all of this did not come without some controversy, from the discourse around “Papaya rules” to the flapping front wing and the mini DRS. Stella had to follow the FIA indication to remove the rear wing, even if apparently it had passed all the tests. But the TP reassured that it won’t affect McLaren’s performance. He also stated that:
“We’ll stay focused on ourselves. We want to propose technical solutions that can be challenging, but absolutely valid from the point of view of legality” – Andrea Stella
Eyes on the future
With the end of the season approaching, Stella needs to keep the team on this track. Even though the driver’s World Championship title is still in the hands of Max Verstappen, it is vital for McLaren to bring the Constructors back in Woking.
McLaren has proved to be competitive on every circuit until now, there’s little doubt that the MCL38 will not dominate in the last few races on the calendar. But we will see if all of this will be enough.
“His impact on McLaren F1 in his role as Team Principal has been profound.”
Today, we announced a multi-year contract extension with our Team Principal, Andrea Stella. 🧡
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 1, 2024
Andrea Stella is also working hard to strengthen the team with more new names. Will Courtenay is set to leave Red Bull to join McLaren as their Sporting Director. However, he will stay with the reigning World Champions until mid-2026.
McLaren also renewed the same Andrea Stella with a multi-year contract, keeping the Italian as their Team Principal for the foreseeable future. In the official statement, he said:
“At McLaren we always say ‘We keep growing and building’, and I am happy to announce that I will continue to grow and build with McLaren for a long time because I just extended my contract with the team. I am proud and privileged to be able to serve the team in my role as team principal” – Andrea Stella
And seeing how far they come under his leadership, there isn’t any reason to not believe those words.
