Andrea Stella says he wants to emulate his Ferrari-Michael Schumacher days at McLaren

Ex-Ferrari engineer hopes to use the success formula from his days with the Ittalian team at McLaren..

Andrea Stella says he wants to emulate his Ferrari-Michael Schumacher days at McLaren

Andrea Stella, Lando Norris and Michael Schumacher (Via IMAGO)

Andrea Stella, the new team principal of McLaren Racing, wants to recreate the golden age of Ferrari in the early 2000s at McLaren. Stella was part of the “perfect” dream team, which dominated most of the early 00s. Stella was an engineer at Ferrari and saw closely how the Scuderia worked at their peak with F1 greats like Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, James Allison, etc. 

But now that Stella is at McLaren in a much higher position than he was at Ferrari, he wants to implement the ideas of “continuity and seniority.” The Italian wants to relive the Michael Schumacher-Ferrari era there at McLaren. McLaren’s recent signing of top engineers from teams like Reb Bull and Ferrari makes an all-star institution brick-by-brick like the good ol’ Ferrari days.

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In his appearance in the Beyond the Grid podcast, Stella said, “There are some elements of the script that haven’t changed over the years, independently of the role that I’ve been on. And continuity and seniority, do form part of this script,” he expanded. “And this is what we are trying to do what McLaren as well.”

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According to Stella, a brick-by-brick structure is important for an organization like McLaren. He believes the Papaya team failed to do it with Fernando Alonso and couldn’t get the best out of the Spaniard. Stella said, “There was so much continuity in this journey where you keep identifying what you need to add and you keep building brick by brick. […] I think this is something that we sort of missed during the Fernando era.”

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McLaren’s return to the back-to-back double podiums in Japan and Qatar

In the past two races in Japan and Qatar, McLaren has achieved back-to-back double podiums. In the past three races, McLaren has scored more points than any other team on the grid, including Red Bull. Despite maintaining a close gap to the Red Bull’s in races, McLaren is still P4 in the Constructor’s Standings.

Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris after the Qatar GP (via Sky Sports F1)

According to Stella, their car is the result of the past engineers and team, and next year’s will be the current one. He is positive about being able to compete with the Big 3 of F1. “We want to compete with Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari. In itself, it’s a daunting mission, and we need to be well equipped,” he told the hosts of the F1 podcast.

McLaren is on to taking big leaps in the Constructor’s Standings and is aiming for the front-running Ferrari and Mercedes, respectively. 2024 will surely come out to be a major improvement or a major disappointment to the team.

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