McLaren team principal Andrea Stella praises the high operational standards of the team as he doubles down on the team’s target of winning the 2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.
In the wake of last weekend’s São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos, which saw McLaren title challenger Lando Norris outscored by champion Verstappen in a major upset, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella discusses the team’s priorities for the remainder of the season.
Speaking to the media following Sunday’s Grand Prix, Stella claims the major knock to Norris’ Drivers’ Championship hopes does not affect the team’s Constructors’ Championship challenge. He claimed that the additional pressure of the Drivers’ Championship fight had no effect on the team’s goals from the beginning.
“In terms of the Constructors’ Championship, I don’t think it changes anything,” Stella replied when asked of the implications of Sunday’s result. “It was always our priority. Even when there was a call to be made to support one driver or the other, it was always secondary to actually maximising the Constructors’ Championship. When it comes to the Drivers’ Championship, I don’t think for Lando there was any particular pressure.
“To be honest, we were enjoying this quest. Sometimes from outside, it may come across like, ‘oh, there was an error there.’ It’s just like when you lock the tyres with a car like we had today, I’m not looking at the driver, I’m looking at why the car keeps locking the front tyres in conditions like this. So I don’t think pressure was a significant factor at all.”
Doubling down on his sentiment, while noting Norris’ is still in the title fight, Stella said plainly that a Constructors’ Championship win has always been the team’s priority. He commented that, while las Vegas may be better suited to the team’s rivals, he expects a strong result in the final 2 Grands Prix of the season.
“Now, clearly, we will have to analyse the points. Mathematically, we are still in the Championship. I haven’t looked at the classification, I hope I’m not wrong, but it shouldn’t be the case.
“I think for Lando, for Oscar, we will try and go to the next races, trying to win the races. I think it will be… The last two venues should be quite good. Vegas will be potentially more of a Ferrari track, we will see. But all to play for and the Constructors’ Championship remains and has always been our priority.”
When asked about potential missed opportunities throughout the season, Stella suggested every team on the grid would change certain decisions in hindsight if given the chance. The McLaren man highlighted missed opportunities as opportunities to learn and improve as a team.
“I think if you [posed] the same question to every single team,” Stella said. “If they are honest, they will all say, ‘oh yeah, we have many opportunities that we should review.’ This is our mindset, always. If you don’t review the opportunities, you’re never going to get better.
“While we are in this quest this season, we also want to be in the quest for the championship in the future, so we want to cash in every [opportunity for] learning.
“For me, once we talk about reviewing opportunities, at the same time, I would like to review that since we delivered lap time to the car in Miami, McLaren have outscored, by far, every other competitor.”
Stella went on to claim that, despite missed opportunities throughout the season, McLaren’s high operational standards both on and off track have allowed them to outscore their rivals. He denied any suggestion that the pace of the MCL38, particularly in the latter stages of the season, has been the defining factor.
“So, while we have opportunities,” He continued. “The amount of points that we have scored, not necessarily because we had the best car, is just because the team and the drivers operated at very high standards. We take these high standards as a positive, as the foundation to keep building, and to keep building, definitely, you need to look at what you haven’t done perfectly. But this is what we do all the time.
“I think actually this is where our culture works very well. And yeah, hopefully there won’t be many opportunities left for the final part of the season, but at the moment we are extremely happy with what we have been able to achieve and the standards at which we have been operating throughout the season.”
