Andrea Stella reckons the work done by a strong technical F1 team at McLaren to go from last to first, bodes well to extend its powers in F1 2026.
Having been at the far end of the grid few years back, fighting for lowly positions and unable to make it in points, McLaren has come a long way in the last two seasons. It started by the end of 2023 and they steadied its ship in 2024. By the end of that season, they were at the front on most occasions.
Eventually, they managed to beat Red Bull to claim its first constructors’ championship in decades. They followed it up with another dominant year in 2025 on the constructors’ side, even though they faltered a bit on the drivers’ to get to the top eventually in Abu Dhabi.
That falter was down to them stopping development to focus on 2026. There is optimism from Stella about the new regulations and that McLaren will be able to deliver. He credits the whole structure of people, especially its technical team who have delivered in the last two seasons.
He feels it is the strongest pack of team that he has been with. “These kind of achievements, they are obviously the result of the development of the entire team, but for once I would like to make a special mention to the technical team,” said Stella to media. “The technical team ultimately conceived, designed, developed a car that from being ninth or tenth best car at the start of 2023, it was one of the best cars at the end of 2023 and then it became gradually the best car, the best car definitely in the first part of 2025.
“If anything, Red Bull gave us an important challenge in the second part of 2025, when we had stopped already the development for some time. The technical team at McLaren is particularly strong, we can benefit from the contribution of Peter Prodromou, Rob Marshall, Neil Houldey, Mark Ingham, Giuseppe Pesce, Mark Temple. I think from this point of view, this is one of the strongest technical department that I could have been part in my career, 26 years in Formula 1.
“And this means that while the specifics of the current regulations will not necessarily apply on to the future, the working way, the standards, the approach to the development of the car, to the objectives from a technical point of view, they do carry into the future. And this makes us optimistic for the 2026 season,” summed up Stella.
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