McLaren boss Andrea Stella believes the team’s near misses in recent Formula 1 races are “good news” as it shows the progress it has made over the last 12 months.
The Woking-based squad squandered a possible chance to win at Silverstone as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri rued strategic errors in a mixed-conditions encounter.
McLaren has built upon its remarkable turnaround last term to emerge as Red Bull’s most consistent contender in 2024, with Norris winning his maiden race in Miami.
However, McLaren has been in a position to triumph in multiple races since in Canada, Spain and Britain, but various shortcomings have seen the side come up short.
McLaren wrecked Piastri’s hopes last weekend with a misguided choice not to doublestack, while Norris was leading when he pitted one lap too late back onto slicks.
But while he’s under no illusions that McLaren must improve, Stella has claimed that being criticised over lost victories marks a stark contrast to where the team was.
“Well the near misses are first of all a point of view of good news right, we didn’t have this kind of near misses until 12 months ago,” Stella contended.
“First of all we need to look at the positives, we need to look at the fact that the team is in condition to be frustrated today because we are P3 in the podium, the other driver P4 and once again the team that scored more points right, so if we don’t start from the positives from the building side we are going to be the ones that build and destroy.
“Build and destroy will stay always at the same level so this is responsibility for everyone.
“While Lando and Oscar don’t have responsibility in some of the calls that today we call missed opportunities, we all, drivers included, have the responsibility to keep building and when we have days in which we have a missed opportunity it’s the best opportunity to keep building because we are racing against the teams that have won championships and they are pretty stable in terms of the people that are there, like they are even familiar with this kind of racing at the top in changeable conditions and so on.
“From this point of view we are I think more of an under-construction side and we take these near misses.
“Like the frustration will go very rapidly but the opportunity will come soon so we need to be ready.”
Stella has also quashed the notion that McLaren now boasts the quickest package in the sport, claiming that Mercedes was quicker in drier conditions at Silverstone.
“I mean there’s this narrative around that McLaren is the best car, I think we make good use of the car, right,” he retorted.
“So I would like to emphasize the good work of the people that prepare the car, like we come to practice sessions and the car performs well and we build well through the weekend.
“But we saw today that not necessarily we have the fastest car because in the first stint when things were pretty regular, Mercedes, they were going [faster].
“I think the team are working very well and when you race for the front positions it just becomes much more visible when you still have some work to do.”
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