McLaren to stay on their toes: 'That would be incredibly naive of us'
F1 News
- Estéban den Toom
Andrea Stella is crystal clear ahead of the new Formula 1 season. Just because a team becomes the constructors' champion once does not automatically mean the team will perform well the following season. Indeed, the McLaren team boss seriously reckons that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will not secure the most number of points of any driver duo in 2025.
2024 was, of course, the year Max Verstappen became Formula 1 world champion for the fourth time in a row, but the constructors' title went to McLaren. However, team boss Stella warns that a repeat in 2025 is anything but a foregone conclusion, believing that the bar needs to be raised at the Woking-based team.
Stella knows 2024 success will not translate to 2025
"It will be incredibly naive to think that because we achieved the constructor championship, now we deserve it for the future. Something that you have to deserve by doing a good job and, in a way, by doing a better job than you have done in 2024, and it was important to discuss the many opportunities we have to do better," Stella told the BBC.
"We have achieved the 2024 constructors' championship, but the performance advantage we had was 0.04% on average, and the points margin we had was 2% [in the standings]. Over 666 points in a season, external these margins simply mean that if you don't do better next year, then you have to be ready to face a loss. We don't want to face a loss. We want to continue winning, therefore, we need to raise the bar for the future," the Italian team boss concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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