McLaren extend contract of successful team principal Andrea Stella
McLaren
F1 News
McLaren have extended Andrea Stella's contract. The Italian team principal, who took over from Andreas Seidl who left for Sauber, signed a multi-year contract at McLaren. In the two years since Stella was named team principal, the team have won two Grands Prix, and are now able to challenge Red Bull after the Austrian's domination.
At the end of 2022, Stella was promoted internally at McLaren to team principal. Stella was no stranger to Formula 1, with his main role as performance/race engineer for Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, among others. In December 2022, Stella was promoted at McLaren, after Seidl moved to Sauber. Early 2023 was still difficult for the team, but since then the road to recovery has been set.
"It’s a privilege to be part of the McLaren Formula 1 team, and I am honoured to continue in my role as Team Principal. We’ve made great strides forward in the past year and a half and we still have a lot more work to do to consistently fight at the front of the grid, which poses an exciting challenge. Success comes through the Team working in synergy, and I am enjoying my role, which has allowed me to help unlock individual talent and empower people to work together towards our Team’s objectives," Stella said in the statement.
Why are McLaren retaining Stella as team principal?
"My thanks go to Zak for his confidence in me as a leader, to my entire leadership team and all my colleagues in the Team, for their continued collaboration and support. I am excited for what we can continue to achieve together," Stella concluded.
Zak Brown, McLaren CEO, also said: "I am delighted to confirm we’ve extended Andrea’s contract as our F1 Team Principal for multiple years. His excellent leadership, expertise and the respect he holds within the team and Formula 1 means we could not have a better person in place to continue the pursuit of consistently fighting at the front of the grid."
The American continued: "His impact on McLaren F1 in his role as Team Principal has been profound, not only through our results on track and the trajectory of the team but also in his development of our culture and mindset. With multi-year extensions already agreed with Lando, Oscar, and now Andrea, we can confidently continue on our quest to become World Champions. We’re all looking forward to the years to come under Andrea’s leadership."