The comments from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella after Abu Dhabi qualifying, where the papaya team will start right behind Max Verstappen.
Stella close to his dream
Fifteen years later, Andrea Stella has the chance to avenge one of the most painful defeats of his career. Back then, as Fernando Alonso’s race engineer, he lost an unbelievable World Championship that slipped into the hands of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. Once again it is Abu Dhabi, and once again it is a Red Bull that stands between the engineer from Orvieto and the drivers’ title. Just like in 2010, the fight will be between three contenders, and once again Stella will need to approach it defensively.
The difference lies entirely in the car: this time, McLaren has a package capable of staying comfortably inside the top three, exactly what Lando Norris needs to write his name in the Formula 1 history books. Max Verstappen, however, is known for being tactically ruthless, and in the race he will be able to use strategy against Norris. Choosing not to push flat-out and thereby keeping the pack tightly compressed is almost expected from the Dutchman, yet the McLaren team principal also believes the race will remain fair, especially because slowing the pace too much could eventually backfire on Verstappen himself.
Stella’s words
“I think Lando will be relatively cautious. And I believe that is the right approach. As for the options Max has available, I’m not too worried. I think we will witness an interesting race, but I’m sure that everything will remain within the limits of sportsmanship and fairness,” Andrea Stella said. “We will have two cars behind Max, and I think that is an advantage. At a certain point, if you slow down too much, you could expose yourself to the undercut and to being overtaken. The slipstream from Yuki Tsunoda in Q3? I’m not surprised, it was within their possibilities and I don’t think it was unfair. In fact, the fastest lap was the other one, so applause to Max — he deserved pole.”
“The comparison with 2010 is an interesting parallel. We arrive at the final race with three drivers in contention, and there is graining, a key factor also in 2010. Some of the cars that pitted did so because the Safety Car was out, and also because there was graining on the tyres. At the same time, it is a period far enough away that you cannot necessarily extract technical knowledge from it, perhaps not even strategic knowledge,” Stella added, noting that even that defeat had value.
“What you carry with you becomes part of your racing mentality, of how you want to approach this kind of event. As far as I’m concerned, 2010 was certainly very painful, but you grow thanks to success and thanks to defeats. I am proud of that moment as well. I am proud that in that season we managed to find ourselves in a position to fight against Red Bull, when from a technical standpoint we probably did not have material that could match theirs. And this was possible thanks to execution and to an exceptional driver.”
Tomorrow Andrea Stella finally gets the chance to turn that pain into triumph – with a much faster car, two drivers in contention, and 58 laps to make history.
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