Zak Brown explains Andrea Stella’s 2023 promotion and how it quickly revitalized McLaren F1’s performance, achieving remarkable results on track.
Zak Brown reflected on the genesis of Andrea Stella’s appointment as McLaren F1 team principal, a team for which he himself serves as CEO. He recalls that when he joined the team, it was managed by Eric Boullier, followed by a series of changes that ultimately led to Stella’s promotion.
“The most important step was entrusting the management of the team to Andrea Stella,” Brown told Auto Motor und Sport. “The process started in 2019 but was disrupted. My first team principal, Eric Boullier, never really had a fair chance.”
“He came in during a time of great turmoil. He had done a good job at Lotus, but with us, he was in the eye of the storm. His successor, Jost Capito, was not the right man for the job. In fact, he was gone before he had even really started.”
“In 2019, we had Gil de Ferran, Pat Fry, Peter Prodromou, Neil Houldey, and Andrea Stella in our leadership team. It’s to this group that we owe our success in 2021. They built the 2020 car, which was used as the foundation for 2021 due to the Covid restrictions.”
“The only new element was replacing the Renault engine with a Mercedes engine. Andreas Seidl and James Key joined us in 2020 and initially took charge of the 2021 project, as it had already been designed by our 2019 team.”
“In 2022, we fell back again, and that was the result of the new personnel’s work. When the development didn’t deliver at the French GP mid-season, and I didn’t like the leadership team’s response, I realized we needed to make a change.”
“That’s why I wanted to return to my 2019 team. Andreas then got his opportunity with Audi. I could have kept him, but I wanted a change within the team.”
While Stella had declined the chance to lead the team in 2019, he decided to accept the role at the end of 2022: “Unlike in 2019, Andrea Stella now felt ready to take on the position of team principal. We discussed his new role for a week.”
“He then felt comfortable. He is very honest with himself and isn’t the type to be driven by ego. His first task at the beginning of 2023 was to reorganize the management structure. He managed to bring out the best in everyone.”
“He told me from the outset that we would have a terrible start to the 2023 season. And that’s exactly what happened. Then came this incredible development curve for the car. It was almost too good to be true. But they delivered on their word.”
After a very challenging start to the season, the 2023 Austrian GP became a turning point for McLaren, as Stella had predicted, though it left Brown skeptical: “Surprisingly, Andrea publicly announced that the Austrian race would be a turning point for us.”
“It worked, but only with one car, and I remained skeptical. We’ve always performed well on that track. Then came Silverstone, where both cars were at the front. That’s when I knew they were telling the truth.”
“Since then, things have only improved. We are actually a year ahead of schedule. The current car was developed using the old wind tunnel. The new one only came online in 2023. Rob Marshall only began working with us at the start of 2024.”
Like several other teams, McLaren operates with two leaders: Stella and Brown. The latter explains that modern teams are no longer suited to having a single figurehead: “You can’t compare today’s team principals to those of the past.”
“Teams have become far too large for someone like Ron Dennis to control everything. If you want to do things properly, you need both a team principal and a CEO. Andrea focuses solely on the team; I handle everything else.”
“I feel like I work for the team, not the other way around. My job is to support him—with financial resources, political matters. If Andrea were distracted by the media, marketing, shareholder relations, or sponsors, he wouldn’t be able to do the job he’s doing.”
“With him, I knew exactly what I was getting into. Our personalities complement each other well, and we work together effectively. The same goes for the other directors. If you want to succeed, you need a culture built on trust between people.”
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How Stella’s Promotion Revived McLaren F1’s Success How Stella’s Promotion Revived McLaren F1’s Success
