Stella warns Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari: 'This was just the beginning'
- Estéban den Toom
McLaren became the constructors' world champion last weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Woking-based team had to defend their 21-point gap against Ferrari, and even though the Scuderia did score more points than McLaren, it was not enough for them to become world champions. Andrea Stella spoke after winning the championship about how proud he is of his team.
"I would like to thank in particular Zak Brown, Paul Walsh, and all our shareholders for their faith in the change. Faith in the change that, gradually, they have implemented and put McLaren in a very solid position from a management point of view. When you are solid from a management point of view, when you are trusted, when you start to be able to deliver the investments that were necessary, then you can compete, you can compete at the top," the McLaren team boss told GPblog and others after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
"I think the final bit of this circle came through the people, unlocking the people which is something that I've said several times. I'm not sure if it's something that those who listen can actually appreciate what it means if you are not part of seeing such a rapid progress of 1000 people. But that's what has happened because you cannot achieve these standards, these performances, these operations, this reliability without every one of the 1000 people operating at a very high level," Stella continued praisingly.
Stella warns the rest of the grid
Finally, Stella warned the rest of the teams by saying that this season was only the beginning for McLaren: "That's what we have gone through in these ten years at McLaren, but hopefully this is not an endpoint. This is just a starting point for more to come in the future," the McLaren Italian team boss concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!