McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has explained how the team’s technical restructuring that was announced at the start of 2023 hasn’t yet been fully completed, but it has already been an “enabler” in their huge turnaround in form this season, by virtue of “clear objectives” development-wise.
Photo Credits: McLaren Racing
McLaren started the 2023 F1 season very much on the backfoot, scoring just 17 points after the first eight races. But a major upgrade package introduced at the Austrian GP started to turn the team’s fortunes around, as it could now fight for podiums and even pole positions on occasion.
That was further strengthened by a second batch of updates at the Singapore GP – a race which Lando Norris finished second and pushed eventual winner Carlos Sainz all the way to the chequered flag – allowed Oscar Piastri to win the Sprint in Qatar and Norris to take Sprint pole in São Paulo, along with several podiums in between.
This comes after the team announced a major reshuffle of its technical structure at the start of the season, moving to a model which includes three technical directors, one for each specific area of the project, in order to give more “clarity” to the men and women designing the car back in Woking.
Speaking after the final race of the 2023 season, Stella reflected on how the changes to the technical structure – that haven’t even been fully completed yet – have already proved to be an “enabler” in the team’s massive turnaround in form over the course of the season:
“The technical restructuring was a fundamental enabler, I would say,” he stated. “The restructure itself, if you think [about it], actually includes people that haven’t started yet – if we talk about the new technical configuration, which includes three technical directors, two of them haven’t started yet.
“Peter Prodromou in charge of aero, David Sanchez in charge of performance and concept [and] Rob Marshall in charge of engineering and design.
“Effectively, this structure has kind of given clarity on the responsibilities and has also allowed – essentially in the short term – to restructure the aerodynamic department, putting Peter Prodromou in charge, supported by Giuseppe Pesce.”
Whilst Prodromou – who has worked with the team for several periods since 1991 – has already started to work for McLaren, Sanchez and Marshall are due to start next January, after completing their gradening leaves from Ferrari and Red Bull, respectively. Stella said the new structure is fundamentally allowing the people that were already in the team to “unleash” their talent more naturally, with “clear directions” proving to be a key factor behind the team’s recent success:
“These guys have been absolutely instrumental in setting the new direction for the design of the car from an aerodynamic point of view,” he said. “And I think this has been the enabler, as I said before, to use the talent that was already available at McLaren.
“The people that physically design the geometries on CAD, they are the same people, but [we are] unleashing their talent by giving clear directions, clear objectives.”
The Italian also mentioned how a culture of “enthusiasm and empowerment” has helped move the squad forward, along with the new recruiments which are yet to start:
“And also trying to make sure that [we have] empowerment and the enthusiasm at the foundation of how we deal with people, I mean, this has been instrumental.
“I always kind of reiterate the same concepts, when it comes to how the turnaround has been possible, but that’s [about] it. And it’s also how we’re trying to get for the future.
“In addition to that, we have now Rob Marshall and David Sanchez starting in January [2024].”
McLaren leaves 2023 as the team that has most constantly challenged Red Bull in the second half of the season at least, and will be looking to build on that strong form as we head into what promises to be an exciting 2024 season.
