F1 News

Andrea Stella surprised by Mclarens great F1 pace

McLaren team boss is 'surprised' by their outright pace

28 June at 13:15
  • Toby Nixon

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has been left 'surprised' by McLaren's overall pace after FP1 in Austria. The former Ferrari man feels encouraged that McLaren's updates have worked effectively. The Italian is hoping McLaren can continue to fight with Red Bull at their home race in Austria, a track where Max Verstappen has won five times.

Stella was reassured by McLaren's pace last time out in Barcelona. The Italian says the MCL38 will be tested once again this weekend at the Red Bull Ring. "That was a little bit of a surprise or more than a surprise itself. I would have thought, well, let's go and see in Barcelona how the car performs because the tracks beforehand were mainly low-speed stuff. It was good news that we could confirm that we had improved the car at low speed," Stella told Sky Sports.

The Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya has been used as a testing ground by F1 teams for many years, and McLaren's pace in Spain has left Stella's team very confident going forward. 

McLaren gains 'reassuring' data 

"Really we needed to check car performance against high-speed corners, long corners, and a completely different layout. We came away with reassuring information, and we see that we can be competitive in this layout. Austria is actually a bit of a mix, the first part is a low-speed section and then we have some high-speed corners, so hopefully we will be able to blend the good qualities of the car and have a competitive weekend." Concluded Stella. Oscar Piastri finished 2nd in FP1 behind Max Verstappen. His teammate Lando Norris finished in just 13th after running into the gravel on a flying lap at the end of the session. The Brit will take some confidence out of it, however, as he had set the fastest first sector before his trip off track.