Lando Norris says he couldn’t have asked for a better team principal than Andrea Stella, and the young Briton praises the “incredible” work done by the McLaren boss this season to revive the team’s fortunes.
Stella’s appointment as team leader at the end of last year marked a smooth transition in management, building on the foundations laid by her predecessor, Andreas Seidl.
Seidl’s tenure from 2019 to 2022 was characterised by a strategic overhaul and cultural replacement within the team, paving the way for McLaren’s recent resurgence.
But under Stella’s leadership, the team continued its transformation with a significant restructuring of its engineering arm in the first quarter of 2023, which strengthened McLaren’s functionality and competitiveness, as well as a notable turnaround at the start of the summer.
However, Stella’s ability to obviously articulate the team’s goals, methods and challenges, both internally and externally, has not gone unnoticed by McLaren staff, who appreciate the Italian’s transparency, humility and empathy, as well as his ability to foster an environment of acceptance as truth. with and collaboration.
As far as Norris is concerned, Stella is the perfect leader to steer McLaren on a trajectory of enduring success.
“I did an interview the other day [in Abu Dhabi], and I just said thank you very much,” Norris quoted Motorsport. com as saying.
“I don’t think it’s all about him. We have to thank many other people in the team, because they were the ones who did a lot of the work.
“Andrea is just the director of it all. He’s the producer of the set, and everyone else is the cast but you need everyone to work together very well. That’s what they’re doing.
“So he did a job. I’m very, very pleased to have him where he is.
“He still does a lot for the team every weekend in terms of racing and qualifying and all that. But I couldn’t ask for a better team leader. “
McLaren’s 2024 season will be the team’s first crusade in which it will operate with its technical structure fully finished, with former Ferrari chassis leader David Sanchez and former Red Bull engineering director Rob Marshall beginning their duties as McLaren’s director of engineering and design. January.
Next year’s car will also benefit from the team’s new wind tunnel, eliminating the need to rent and ship test parts to Toyota’s Cologne facility.
These measures of McLaren’s performance are likely to prove very important in convincing Norris to extend his time with the Papaya team beyond the duration of his existing contract, which will end at the end of 2025.
Only time will tell if McLaren lives up to the Briton’s expectations; The 24-year-old’s prospects are decidedly positive.
“I’m very excited. . . We have new hires. . . I’m excited because despite everything we’re on the right track and we know which way to go,” Norris concluded.
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