Andrea Stella says unlocking of potential of McLaren F1 team personnel is a collective effort, as he notes of efficiency and wind tunnel step.
Having secured the top spot in F1 constructors’ championship, a lot of praise fell upon team principal Stella for his work done having taken over from Andreas Seidl in difficult circumstances. But the Italian is not taking it all on his own. He feels the unlocking of potential needs support from the CEO as well.
He has good word for Zak Brown, who saw through McLaren in the low phase to the heights it has reached now. Stella notes how the American takes the Italian as one of the key players and makes it a group, rather than play around the hierarchy thing.
“The unlocking of the potential of the people, first of all, is not only my contribution, it’s the contribution of the management and this is extremely important because you cannot do anything if you are a one-man show,” said Stella to media. “Even if you are team principal, you need the support of your CEO, you need the support of the chairman, you need the support of the shareholders – that we need to get aligned, otherwise you don’t create a culture.
“And I have always felt in my position as team principal great support and we deployed our shareholders walking the factory, Zak walks the factory with me very, very often and we have several conversations. Ultimately is the accumulation of these numerous conversations that change the culture, build the trust in an organisation. You see that as a team principal, as a CEO, you are one of us, and thanks to our conversation we build the way we want to be as a group.
“And then we become the guarantee that the way we want to be as a group will be implemented – that’s where you really make a difference as a team principal or a CEO. Not because you bring new staff but because what we agree all together will be guaranteed. We are responsible to make sure that this is brought to life. I would say this is the summary that we got through,” summed up Stella.
Apart from the push from the CEO, the Italian also talked about the efficiency that is needed for continuous improvement. It is the combination and balance of CFD and wind tunnel usage that needs to be efficient for the step to be made. It was key for McLaren in 2024 where everything worked.
There were some teams who didn’t get things right on their side and faltered. The wind tunnel step for McLaren also worked as they were able to use the upgraded technology to their advantage. “You would always take P1 in the championship and then see how you can improve your efficiency in terms of aerodynamic development in the combination of CFD and wind tunnel time, because the two things are compounded,” said Stella.
“It’s not because I have three times the wind tunnel time I necessarily will develop the car three times faster, that’s not the case. I think we have seen that in 2024 very well, because there were developments taken trackside by some teams that not necessarily became something that was a progress. It’s not necessarily about quantity; we are very much investing on the quality of the development.
“The new wind tunnel is definitely a big step forward. But the big step forward is, above all, from a logistical point of view. I always stress that in 2023, both the upgrades in Austin and Singapore were designed and developed at the Toyota wind tunnel. But to develop things at the Toyota wind tunnel, you have the part ready, and then it’s tested two days after just because of the shipment.
“Now, we have the part ready, and it’s tested two hours after, so you just gain so much efficiency. But in reality, chasing efficiency is not only thanks to the wind tunnel, but is in the whole approach to aerodynamic development. And I have to say that we have seen – we have experienced ourselves – that even if you have more and more restrictions, from a development point of view, the way you generate the knowledge, the efficiency, is by far the most important thing,” summed up Stella.
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