F1 News
Stella adamant "the mindset at McLaren" can lead the team to a world title
Lando Norris topped the timesheets in FP2, and team boss Andrea Stella will be hoping his MCL38 can compete at the top throughout the rest of the weekend. McLaren's team boss believes that the Papaya team can still fight for the world championship despite the 78-point gap to Red Bull, who occupy first place in the standings. Stella recognises consistency among McLaren's best traits but also stresses the importance of learning from mistakes made in previous races.
When asked by Sky Sports whether or not McLaren can fight for the world title, Stella said:
"The goal ahead of us at the moment for me is 78 or something, which is the points that separate us from P1 in the Constructor Championship. That's our focus. We know that it will be a massive over-delivery if we keep staying in this kind of contention until the end of the season. But at the same time, we are highly motivated by the opportunity to be fighting for the championship. So that's the mindset at McLaren and hopefully, we will stay in this fight until the end of the season."
Team boss praises McLaren's consistency: "It's very important"
Stella also praised his team for being the most consistent on the grid. The Italian believes that the Woking-based team will have an outsider's chance if it continues to be consistent. "McLaren is the most consistent team. It's the only team that scored eight podiums in a row. It's the team that scored the most points in the last six races. We gained 37 points or 36 to Red Bull. So it's very important when you look at things to understand which angle am I looking from."
Stella stresses the fact McLaren is 'under construction'
Stella, however, also highlighted some of the missed opportunities McLaren has had. The former Ferrari engineer continued: "We have some missed opportunities in Silverstone in situations in which we know that we have some work to do, like mixed and so on. In this relation, I said it's a team under construction because it's relatively young at the people and it's also relatively young in relation to how we manage our drivers. What can come across as indecisiveness is just more preparation, more alignment, and better planning which is easy to address. We focus on the positive and all the opportunities." Stella concluded.