McLaren boss Andrea Stella has suggested that he is happy with accusations of foul play, attributed to its Formula 1 rivals, made against the team.
The Woking-based squad has picked up where it left off in 2024, taking five wins out of the six Grands Prix contested so far, cementing a 105 point lead in the Constructors’ Championship via its MCL39 challenger.
Oscar Piastri is currently in possession of the asecdency in the Drivers’ Championship, holding a 16 point lead over team-mate Lando Norris, the Aussie taking four victories to the Brit’s one.
When the team began to become the outright fastest during the middle of last season, a number of questions were raised as to how it overtook Red Bull as the supreme outfit on the grid.
The controversy on its flexi-wings were followed by suspicions regarding the superiority of its tyre temperature management, with a theory transpriring that water was being injected into its rubber to cool them down.
Such notions were dispelled, and after the Miami Grand Prix, post-race checks also concluded that the braking system, another reason others believed it was carrying an advantage, was deemed legal.
Speaking to media including Motorsport Week ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Stella made the point that such unfounded accusations made by other teams will afflict their own concentration on the tasks at hand.
“Let’s say, for us, it’s good news when our rivals get their focus rather than on themselves and onto some of the aspects that, allegedly, are present in our car and effectively they are not even present,” he said.
“Certainly, even, let’s say, flexi-wings, like a front wing deflection like everyone has, it has nothing to do with the reason McLaren is very competitive.
“So I hope that in the future there will be more of this kind of saga, because it means that our rivals keep focusing on the wrong things, and this is for us just good news, if they were in helping our quest.”
‘Back to basics’ approach drives McLaren
The MCL39 possesses an abundance of areas where it holds supremacy over the other teams.
Stella was also asked about how perhaps the many aspects of the car that is giving the team its advantage is making it hard for others to pinpoint a way of beating them.
“I would like to give the wrong answer here, so I put all our rivals down the wrong route!” he jokes. “The only thing I can say is that, for me, over the years in Formula 1, I have learnt that you have to focus on yourself and focus on the fundamentals.
“I think when you get too distracted by what the others are doing, it’s normally an alarm bell that you ring in your factory and should remind you to go back to the basics.
“I’m afraid I’ve given the right answer, so I’ve helped now my competitors, but I’m intellectually honest so I can’t really give the wrong answer tactically.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri heads McLaren 1-2 in Imola FP1
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