McLaren F1: Emotional Stability Key to Success

Amid recent setbacks, McLaren’s Andrea Stella emphasizes stability over emotion in managing F1’s inherent unpredictability.

Andrea Stella is steadfast in not dwelling on McLaren F1’s recent racing errors. When queried about whether team debriefs had been uncomfortable following missed victories at Silverstone and earlier in Canada and Spain, he responded:

“I’m not entirely sure what you mean by ‘uncomfortable’. That’s not how you run a Formula 1 team. A Formula 1 team cannot be led by emotion; otherwise, it would quickly collapse and implode, wouldn’t it?” Stella explained.

“Formula 1 is a rollercoaster with increasing goals throughout a season of 24 races. You think about managing 24 such events in this way.”

He admits, however, that some defeats are harder to take: “For us, at Silverstone, there was obviously some pain because we were leading and saw that we could not capitalize. But we approach missed opportunities as a chance to grow, a way to understand where our gaps are to become world champions—and that’s our focus. The focus is on opportunity, on growth, and how we can improve. It’s not about what was missed.”

“Therefore, I think the debriefs have been very reassuring and encouraging. We’ve been able to consolidate our culture, which is positive and constructive. For us, it’s simply a position that will make us stronger next time… nothing overly emotional, just constructive.”

Despite this, the results have been quite convincing.

Stella reminds us that McLaren has been the strongest team in terms of performance since Miami: “I think we should be viewed from different perspectives. McLaren has been the most consistent, the only team achieving eight consecutive podiums.”

“It’s the team that has scored the most points over the last six races. We have gained, I believe, 37 points or 36 over Red Bull. It’s thus very important to understand from which angle I am viewing things.”

“We then missed a few opportunities at Silverstone in situations where we know we have work to do, I said it’s a team in building because it’s relatively young and also relatively new in how we manage our drivers.”

“What might seem like indecision is simply more preparation, more alignment, better planning, which is easy to do. We are therefore focusing on the positive aspects and all the opportunities.”