McLaren CEO Zak Brown has hailed Team Principal Andrea Stella as the main “difference” behind the British outfit’s turnaround over the last 12 months in Formula 1.
Stella was promoted to the helm prior to last season when a mutual choice was made for Andreas Seidl to accelerate his exit to Sauber to work on its Audi transition.
The Italian admitted that McLaren would commence last term on the back foot amid the decision to change car concept on the MCL60 late in the development phase.
But mid-season upgrades transformed the Woking-based squad’s fortunes, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri combining to log nine podiums as it climbed to fourth.
McLaren has continued on that ascendant path at the beginning of the 2024 season as Norris has bagged two podiums to leave it third in the Constructors’ standings.
Speaking in a YouTube video with Drive to Wynn, Brown, who was responsible for the appointment, labelled Stella as the single largest influence in McLaren’s revival.
“The difference was Andrea Stella,” he said.
“He’s the leader of the team. He’s an awesome leader, he brought real clarity, did some restructuring, led by example and ultimately the people turned it around.”
McLaren produced a surprise last time out in China as Lando Norris split the Red Bull drivers to finish second at a circuit where the team had been braced to struggle.
The side will introduce a seismic upgrade package at the next round in Miami and Brown is optimistic that its strong record with correlation will stand it in good stead.
“We’re excited, great news is last handful of upgrades have done exactly what we thought they would so there’s no reason to believe this upgrades won’t have the same impact.”
McLaren resides in a comfortable third place in the Constructors’ Championship following the opening five rounds with 96 points, 55 behind Ferrari in second position.
