McLaren boss Andrea Stella has compared the team’s recent Formula 1 struggles to that of Michael Schumacher’s in his early days with Ferrari.
The Woking-based squad has been fraught with recent competition from Max Verstappen, who took victory last time out in Qatar to take the championship down to the wire.
McLaren has also remained firm and steadfast in its approach to equality and fairness between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, amid their own personal quest for the drivers’ title.
Last Sunday’s race in Qatar was a rare but costly example of strategic shortcomings, which saw both Norris and Piastri left out under the Safety Car, costing them victory.
And the team was also guilty of failing to sufficiently keep its MCL39s within the minimum plank thickness in Las Vegas, handing both drivers a double-disqualification.
But Stella, ever the calm professional he is, put the incidents down as experiences which to be learned from, praising the teams “no-blame culture”.
“I think in terms of the misjudgement is something that we will have to review discussing internally,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“We’ll have to assess some factors, like, for instance, whether there was a certain bias in the way we were thinking that led us as a group to think that not all cars necessarily would have pitted.
“There are sometimes some objective reasons, sometimes there may be some biases in the way you think. We will have to go through the review in a very thorough way, but what’s important is that we do it as usual in a way that is constructive, is analytical.
“I think already after Vegas we have had the possibility for me, and I was very proud of the team, to see how strong the no-blame culture is at McLaren, how much our culture is a culture of progress, is a culture of continuous improvements.”
McLaren having to take the ‘pain’ amid ‘determination to learn’
Stella used the analogy of Schumacher’s early days at Ferrari as a good example, the German transitioning to a then-struggling Scuderia in 1996, after two years as World Champion.
The German famously helped bring the team from years of mediocrity to World Champions from 2000, and went on to remain as champion himself until the year 2005.
“Racing is tough, racing may give you tough lessons, but this is the history of champions. I worked with Michael Schumacher, we won several titles together,” Stella continued.
“We all think about the titles now, but after Vegas, I was thinking how much pain he had to go through, for instance, when Michael started his experience at Ferrari.
“This is just the history of Formula 1; this is the true nature of racing. We are disappointed, but if anything, as soon as we start the review, we will get even more determined to learn from our lessons, adapt and be stronger as a team, and make sure that this phenomenal, beautiful opportunity that we have to compete for the Drivers’ Championship and be the ones that actually stop Verstappen’s dominance in this period of Formula 1, we want to face it at the best of ourselves.
“So, I’m looking forward to the next race, and I’m looking forward to seeing a strong reaction from our team.”
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