McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella challenges Red Bull’s narrative, calling for deeper technical analysis across circuits like Imola, Miami, and Monaco.
Andrea Stella does not want to generalize McLaren F1’s performance at Imola, nor does he wish to compare the form of the teams based on specific circuits. The Woking team principal believes a deeper level of comparison and analysis is needed to evaluate his team’s standing against Red Bull.
“I don’t agree with that statement. I think there’s a tendency to compare apples and oranges,” Stella said. “When I was at school, the teacher always said not to compare apples and oranges. Make sure you are specific, analytical, and precise in how you use information.”
Circuits Shape the Narrative
According to him, Red Bull’s dominance at Imola comes from the upgrades brought by the Milton Keynes team, but also from the fact that the Emilia-Romagna layout particularly suits the characteristics of the RB21, as it did for its predecessors, given Verstappen’s unbeaten run there since 2021.
“Imola belongs to the category of circuits like Saudi Arabia and Japan: high-speed corners, narrow tracks, and if you look at the pole positions at those circuits, it’s Red Bull who got them. And in the Saudi Arabian race, if it weren’t for Max’s penalty, Max would have won the race.”
“If we look at the pace between McLaren and Red Bull in Japan and Saudi Arabia, to me the picture is very consistent with the one we had at Imola. But if we compare the Imola race to Miami, we’re comparing an apple with an orange, and my schoolteacher would have pulled me by the ear and told me not to do it.”
Since McLaren has worked on slow corners, the impact of that work was more evident in Miami: “Miami is a circuit dominated by low-speed corners and with all the aerodynamic investments we’ve made, our car has massively improved in those low-speed turns.”
Headline over Hard Facts
Stella implies that Red Bull prefers to chase headlines rather than analyze facts: “If we compare the circuits that belong to the apple category and those that belong to the orange category, I think you can draw your own conclusions in terms of evaluating the facts from a technical point of view.”
“F1 is a technical activity, but it’s clear that some people are good at throwing bait here and there, moving away from technical facts. It’s up to you whether or not to bite the hook, if I may say so.”
And that is why, on a very different circuit like Monaco, the Italian is not surprised to see Ferrari make progress: “This one’s a peach. It’s a totally unique circuit. I wouldn’t be surprised, let’s say, if Ferrari were the leading car — so we’ll see.”
“Maybe after a few more races we’ll be able to create better and more precise categories. I’m very curious to see if, for example, Baku will be an orange or a peach — I suspect it will be a peach, so we might continue this trend.”
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