McLaren’s Stella hopes ‘rivals keep focusing on the wrong things’

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella hopes the current advantage at the front of the field remains in place beyond the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as “rivals keep focusing on wrong things.”

The FIA closely inspected the McLaren rear brake assembly after the last race in Miami, amid questions from rival teams about how it might be keeping its tires from overheating. Those checks showed the car to be in compliance with the technical regulations, and while more stringent tests relating to front wing flexibility will come into effect from Barcelona onwards, Stella (pictured above with Oscar Piastri) says others becoming distracted by what McLaren is doing is a positive for his team.

“For us, it’s good news when our rivals get their focus – rather than on themselves – onto some of the aspects that allegedly are present in our car, and that effectively are not even present,” Stella said. “And certainly, even if they were – let’s say, flexi-wings, like a front wing deflection, like everyone else – it has nothing to do with the reason why McLaren is very competitive.

“So, I hope that in the future there will be more of these kinds of sagas because it means that our rivals keep focusing on the wrong things and this is, for us, just good news. It’s just helping our quest.”

Stella even gave some advice to other teams when asked if McLaren’s advantage is made up of small details, rather than one single aspect.

“I would like to give the wrong answer here so that I put all our rivals down the wrong route. The only thing I can say is that for me, over the years in Formula 1, I’ve learned 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. So, I’m afraid I’ve given the right answer – I’ve helped now my competitors. But you know, I’m intellectually honest, so I can’t really give the wrong answer tactically.”

While McLaren also looks strong again in Imola – finishing one two in both Friday practice sessions – after dominating in Miami, Stella believes car development will be key to it replicating that form across all circuits as the European season kicks off.

“I think we are understanding the strengths of the MCL39, which overall is a competitive car but in some conditions it seems to have a certain advantage over the rest of the field," he said. “These conditions materialized very well in Miami with the track layout, the speed range, the ambient temperatures. But we know very well that in some other kinds of circuits like Saudi or Japan, it's a different story. Everything gets quite a lot tighter.

“Hopefully we will be able to retain this characteristic and this advantage over the course of the season. But I think this will require the car to be developed, to be upgraded, because we see that no one is standing still. We see upgrades being brought trackside by our competitors.

“We do plan to upgrade the MCL39 and try and, if anything, possibly make the car even more suitable for a wider range of conditions and cornering speed.”