McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has talked of his motivation for Formula 1 success, partly driven by a longstanding record set by Ferrari over 20 years ago.
The Woking-based squad has enjoyed a continuation of its strong showing in 2024, which saw them claim the Constructors’ Championship for the first time in 26 years.
Having taken that strength straight into 2025, the team has won all but two of the nine rounds completed, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris first and second in the standings.
Prior to his move to McLaren, Stella spent 14 years at Ferrari, moving up the ranks to be race engineer for both Kimi Raikkonen and then Fernando Alonso.
His earlier days at the Scuderia saw him take on the role of performance engineer for Michael Schumacher, and that time evokes great memories, and a target for McLaren to aim for.
Prior to last month’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Stella spoke of Ferrari’s dominance during the early-to-mid 2000s, particularly its 2004 obliteration of the competition.
“At the time [the mid-2000s], you could still take two cars of different seasons, and we had the 2003 and 2004 cars here in Imola,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“They were going around at the same time – one driven by Michael and one driven by Rubens [Barrichello] – and we realised that we had a super car in hand for 2004 because the lap time and the consistency of that car was great. So, a lot attached to this circuit, definitely from me.”
“That car won 12 of the first 13 races with Michael, and the only one we lost was because Michael crashed with [Juan Pablo] Montoya under the tunnel in Monaco, while Montoya was actually one lap down during a safety car. Otherwise, likely we would have won 13 out of 13.
“That’s a reference that I actually often use even to motivate myself – like, that’s where we want to be. But I don’t think this will happen this year.
“So, there is hard work ahead of us to make sure this happens in the years to come. I think we are a few steps behind compared to those kinds of references.”
Is McLaren primed for 2026 domination?
McLaren is, when on top of its game, a team that can destroy the opposition, two cases in point being its late 80s and 90s successes.
1988 saw the team take victory in every race bar one, with Ayrton Senna taking the title. 1998 was not quite as dominant, but Mika Hakkinen took championship success in the mighty MP4/14, the standout car of the season.
The 2026 season casts a lot of mystery and intrigue, as the brand-new set of regulations incurs a feel of complete unpredictability.
However, the Mercedes powertrain, of which McLaren is a user, is thought to be one of the strongest, if not the strongest, of them all for next year.
The MCL38 was a title-winner, and the MCL39 looks set to be one too in an even more dominant style, which gives the MCL40, under the direction of chief designer Rob Marshall, a platform to be the class of the field again.
It remains to be seen if McLaren can repeat those heady days of Ferrari, of which Stella is still so fond, but right now, it would be foolish to discount it.
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