McLaren F1 gears up for significant end-season enhancements, contrasting with Red Bull’s extensive updates, Stella reveals.
Andrea Stella, the director of McLaren F1, is surprised by his team’s strong performance, noting that since the major upgrade in Miami, his squad has introduced fewer new features than Red Bull. The development program is expected to intensify in the latter half of the season.
“Indeed, Red Bull has completed more developments on the track so far, in terms of physical parts delivered, when you look at what they have declared, compared to what we have done. But I can certainly speak for McLaren,” said Stella.
“It seems we are now able to capitalize on some of the developments we have accumulated on the ground. I expect that, for the second part of the season, we will have new parts on multiple occasions.”
“In some ways, I am surprised that we have been so competitive, given that since Miami, we have not brought many new parts to the track. This means that the Miami evolution was significant, but there will be further developments in the second part of the season, yes.”
However, Stella always moderates the claim that the McLaren is the best car on the grid, as is often stated. He does not deny that it is the best under various conditions and that it is versatile, but he tempers this view somewhat.
“People keep telling me that McLaren is the best car. I continue to pour water on the fire and say, ‘there are four cars that are about at the same level’. There is some variability, depending on the track and even the conditions to some extent.”
“A very strong and consistent team”
Stella is pleased that McLaren still managed to edge out Red Bull for points in Belgium, even though the Milton Keynes team appeared poised to regain them. He praises the consistency of his team, as well as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, despite some setbacks.
“You can identify instances where, had we had a perfect weekend, we could have qualified on Saturday one or two positions better. I don’t think we could have beaten Red Bull in qualifying; we just didn’t have enough grip to do that.”
“Then, during the race, with the minor issue with Lando, the small pit stop problem with Oscar, the reality is that no one has a perfect event; it’s simply impossible. I think we are actually quite pleased with the level of consistency and robustness that we have as a team.”
“This is the only team whose drivers have scored points in every event, the reliability is perfect so far, and I’ve lost count of how many consecutive points. Ten consecutive podiums, as many chances to do better, but the overall picture is that of a very strong and very consistent team. That needs to be emphasized.”
“In Belgium, I think it’s still important to highlight that we are gaining points on Red Bull, because if you had asked me before the race if we were going to gain points on Red Bull, I wouldn’t have been so sure.”
“Because I was expecting Verstappen to pass, and if you look at last year’s race, Perez finished something like 10 seconds, 15 seconds behind Verstappen for a one-two. So, we’ve gained 8 points, we are 42 behind now, I take the positive, and we continue to work on the opportunities.”
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Stella Highlights Fewer Upgrades Than Red Bull Stella Highlights Fewer Upgrades Than Red Bull
