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Andrea Stella reveals McLaren's F1 ambitions

Stella warns McLaren's rivals: "More to come in the future"

19 January at 20:00
Last update 19 January at 09:53

When Andrea Stella joined McLaren in 2015 the teams was stuck at the back of the midfield. However, since the Italian stepped up as team principal in December 2022, the papaya team started its rapid ascend through the ranks culminating with the conquest of the Constructors' championship, a result of the team's 1000 members' rapid progress. But Stella, points out that the team's recent success is but a 'starting point' and issues a stern warning to its rival teams.

Since the partnership between McLaren and Mercedes dissolved prior to the 2015 season, taking on Honda as their Power Unit supplier, the British team found itself languishing at the back of the midfield. Stella looks back on his first year as a McLaren man, and reflects on the team's journey to their first Constructors' title in 26 years.

"The time I joined McLaren and now 2024 end of the season, celebrating a championship means that we have gone almost through a circle," said Stella to media present at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, including GPblog. "I often mention to the team the fact that the first race in 2015 in Australia, between our lap in Q1 and the pole position, there were five seconds."

But this year, McLaren suddenly found themselves in contention for both world titles, taking wins, podiums and numerous poles which helped the Woking based team edge its rivals, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing to the title, and Stella knows who to thank for that. "We have gone all the way and we have gone all the way thanks to great resilience, thanks to great belief. I would like to thank in particular Zak Brown, Paul Walsh, all our shareholders for their faith in the change." 

"Just a starting point for more to come in the future"

Pointing to the team's 'strong management' as the reason why team could then 'compete at the top', Stella then focuses on the 'rapid progress' made by the entirety of McLaren's team. "I think the final bit of this circle came through the people, unlocking the people," said the Italian.

"You cannot achieve these standards, this performance, these operations, this reliability without every one of the 1000 people operating at very high level. That's what we have gone through in these ten years at McLaren," added Stella before revealing his ambitions for the team's future. "But hopefully this is not an end point. This is just a starting point for more to come in the future," concluded McLaren's team principal.

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