McLaren Formula 1 team principal, Andrea Stella says the team is not targeting any specific on-track results to achieve in the 2024 season, and instead will be looking for improvements in every aspect of its car development and operation, and the results will “take care of themselves”.
Photo Credits: McLaren Racing
The Woking-based squad enjoyed a season of two halves in 2023, as it endured a tough start with a car that wasn’t up to standard to fight at the front of the field – or even score points – with just 17 points scored over the first eight races. But a dramatic upturn in form was to follow after a significant upgrade at the Austrian GP immediately turned their season around, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri becoming regular podium finishers and front-runners in the final 13 rounds of the season.
And whilst the team is largely expected to remain competitive and even make gains on Red Bull ahead of the 2024 season, team principal Andrea Stella said in an interview with Autosport.com that the team will not set itself target results, and will instead focus on improving in every possible area, with the results then naturally coming as a consequence:
“I won’t talk about how we want to be second, first, third – because that’s not even the language we use internally at McLaren. We don’t talk about this,” he said. “Results take care of themselves. What we talk about is: ‘What do we have to do in terms of aerodynamic development, mechanical development, how do we improve the interaction with the tyres’?
“The normal areas, if you ask any other team they would give you the same answer, just the projects that we need to deliver. How do we deliver projects, how do we make sure that they actually deliver what we want? And that’s what the focus should be.”
The Italian is adamant that every tiny improvement will help make the team more competitive ahead of the new season, and said the team will use its plans more as a tool than an “aim”, not being afraid of changing midway through the season, just like they did last year:
“We are making sure that every day, we feel we are making a little step forward. We are increasing competency, we are increasing expertise, we are increasing our knowledge in every parameter that ultimately will deliver performance on track.
“Then, once we are in Bahrain, once we are in Saudi, we will see how good a job we have done.
“Plans are a good reference, but then pretty much every day you need to adapt and say, ‘what does it mean for my next step and how much do I have to revisit the plan?’
“Plans could easily lead to a comfort zone. I try to take it from the point of view that the focus is on performance. A plan is a tool, it is not the aim.”
Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Stella said he believes the field will produce even faster cars in 2024, as the development curve is still “not flattening” despite two years of stable regulations, in which many anticipated that the strictness of the regulations would mean very similar car designs throughout the grid, which proved to be incorrect:
“We are not yet at the stage where the development curve is flattening,” he said. “I think we’ll see another leap in time next year.
“Maybe there won’t be as much in the second half of the season. Looking back, these rules gave us many different geometries and development directions. Before 2022, most people told us that the cars would all look the same. This forecast was wrong. I still see opportunities to find lap time.”
