McLaren warned: 'That would be arrogant to do'
F1 News
McLaren enters the 2025 season as the reigning constructors' world champion, aware that they are now the benchmark for every other F1 team, who will be aiming to surpass them. Team boss Andrea Stella understands that the competition will do everything in its power to outdo McLaren. The Italian is already warning his team to be prepared, using one specific phrase to explain what's to come.
In English, the phrase 'Poison biscuits' is not exactly familiar. For Stella, this means other teams may attempt to sow division and destabilise McLaren. He put it cryptically, saying, "Refusing the poison biscuits is one of the fundamental elements of checking and validating that the culture that we have created is not only words but exists in real life," he explained to GPblog and others.
"We will always have poison biscuits dropped in our camp, and with an attempt to create division, to break the cohesion that we have in the team. We talk every day that we are not going to pick the poison biscuits."
'Poison biscuits' internally at McLaren
At the same time, Stella also explained that in-house arrogance is a 'toxic biscuit', something that could cause McLaren to destabilise itself. "It would be very naive, it would be very arrogant to think that because we have achieved something now, now we are perfect. Now we can relax. Now we can think that everything is due just because we are world champions. There's nothing new. The best philosophy is that you start as if you had lost. That's what we're going to do in preparation for next season." Stella concluded.
McLaren will be aiming to defend their first constructors title since 1998 this season. Of course, it won't be easy. They will be challenged by Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, and even others who make a competitive jump. It's a crucial year for the Papaya squad before the huge 2026 regulation change.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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