Brown points to Stella as responsible for McLaren’s rise

April 26, 2024 10:35

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has credited team boss Andrea Stella with playing a key role in the British team’s turnaround in Formula 1 over the past twelve months.

Stella took over before last season following a joint decision for Andreas Seidl to accelerate his move to Sauber and work on the transition to Audi.

The Italian admitted that McLaren would start last season at a disadvantage due to the late change of concept of the MCL60 car. However, mid-season upgrades have transformed the Woking team’s fortunes, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri taking nine podiums between them and taking McLaren to fourth place in the 2023 championship.

The good form continued at the start of the 2024 season, with Norris achieving two podiums and leaving McLaren in third place in the Constructors’ World Championship at the moment.

In a YouTube video with the ‘Drive to Wynn’ channel, Brown, responsible for Stella’s hiring, named him as the biggest single influence on McLaren’s turnaround.

“The difference was Andrea Stella,” Brown said. “He is the leader of the team. He’s an incredible leader, he brought real clarity, he did some restructuring, he led by example, and at the end of the day, people changed the way they did certain things.”

At the Chinese GP last weekend, McLaren surprised by having Lando Norris finish second among the Red Bull drivers, on a circuit where the team expected difficulties. The team will have a significant upgrade package at the upcoming race in Miami, and Brown is optimistic that its positive track record with correlation between development and performance will continue.

“We are excited. The good news is that the latest update packages have done exactly what we thought they would, so there is no reason to believe that these updates won’t have the same impact,” concluded Brown.

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