Team Principal Andrea Stella explains why he thinks McLaren doesn’t have the best car – In the development race, he announces further updates after the break
“I’m not surprised,” says McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella after the Formula 1 race in Spa. Many experts saw McLaren as the favorites there, but in the end Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris “only” finished second and fifth in Belgium.
Many people have the impression, says Stella, “that the McLaren is the best car”. He himself always has to put this into perspective and make it clear that there are currently four cars in Formula 1 “that are more or less at the same level”, emphasizes the team boss.
It depends on the track and the conditions as to which team is ahead on any given weekend. McLaren, for example, has “a good car” on tracks where they drive with a lot of downforce. In the “low downforce area”, on the other hand, they still have work to do.
For Stella, it is therefore “no surprise that we were not as competitive here in Belgium as we were in Hungary, and it is also no surprise that we still lost quite a lot in the second sector with the same or slightly better top speed.”
Put simply, McLaren had to take so much downforce off the car at Spa last weekend to be competitive on the straights in the first and third sectors that they lost too much time in the twisty second section of the track.
“But I hope that in the future, perhaps next year in Belgium, we will have completed the search for the most efficient car,” said Stella, as this job is currently only “50 percent” complete.
Stella announces further updates after the break
One advantage of this could be that McLaren will have more development time than Red Bull, for example, at least until the end of the year thanks to the handicap system. But Stella is “not sure” whether this will really have an impact.
“If you look at the submissions [to the FIA], Red Bull has put more development on the track in terms of physical parts supplied than we have,” says Stella. In fact, Red Bull has officially submitted 31 updates to the FIA for the RB20 so far this year.
At McLaren, there were “only” 27 before the summer break. Stella therefore emphasizes: “In a way, I am surprised that we have been so competitive, considering that we have not brought many new parts to the track since Miami. “
For the second half of the season, however, the team boss announces that further updates are planned. This could play a decisive role in the battle for victories (and possibly the world championship title). Because according to Stella, only small things currently make the difference in the tight top field.
He cites tire degradation as an example and recalls the last stint at the race in Silverstone: “Lando and Hamilton both had used softs. Hamilton somehow managed to keep them alive and win the race at Silverstone.”
At the same time, however, he also emphasizes: “In other conditions, we actually seem to cope well with the tires. So it looks like everything is so close that some small factors and variable circumstances can change the pecking order. “
