Andrea Stella asserts McLaren F1’s upper hand on twisty circuits has fueled their standout season.
Andrea Stella is convinced that McLaren F1 holds a clear advantage on high-downforce circuits. The team director recalls that Hungary and Zandvoort, two twisty tracks, witnessed the team’s dominance, much like in Singapore this weekend.
“I think if I look at the previous races, at this high level of aerodynamic downforce, we seem to be very competitive,” said Stella. “So, I think it has more to do with the level of downforce than with the fact that we are trying to get the most out of the car.”
“But I think the car has been strong in this setup. I always refer to Hungary and Zandvoort. Even Hungary was a relatively dominant victory in itself, like Zandvoort and like this one. So, I think at this point, it’s more about the car and this setup.”
The Italian believes Ferrari would have been a real threat without a failed qualification: “Red Bull showed that on a track where they thought they would not be very competitive, they were actually potentially the second best.”
“Ferrari seems to be as fast as us, and Leclerc’s last stint was very competitive. So, I think the race can give us a little boost, I think that’s fair to say. From a competitiveness standpoint, I would say we need to keep being aggressive in terms of development.”
According to Stella, McLaren’s advantage lies in overall aerodynamic efficiency, which also explains its better versatility: “I think it has the best aerodynamic efficiency across the grid, while at low drag, I think the efficiency of Ferrari and Red Bull is much more comparable to our car.”
“We certainly know that we have invested a lot more at this level of downforce than what we have done at a lower downforce level. Even though I have already said this after races like Spa and Monza, we have definitely made a step forward in terms of maintaining lift when we reduce the level of drag.”
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Stella Credits Circuits for McLaren’s F1 Surge Stella Credits Circuits for McLaren’s F1 Surge
