Stella praises the key figures behind the 2025 dominance: “The strongest department ever”
Andrea Stella enthusiastically praised McLaren’s technical team, stating that it is one of the strongest groups he has ever worked with during his Formula 1 career.
The team principal of the Woking-based outfit identified six key figures within the department to explain why the reigning world champions are “optimistic” heading into the 2026 season, despite the complete overhaul of the regulations.
The Power Unit regulations have been completely revised for the first time since 2014, but as a Mercedes customer, McLaren will only need to integrate the power unit and gearbox supplied by the German manufacturer into the design of its own chassis. However, the aerodynamic regulations have also been changed. As a result, there is significant uncertainty surrounding every team, and this does not automatically guarantee that McLaren will remain competitive next year.
The team’s ace up its sleeve is the fact that it has already proven in the past that it can recover after a difficult start in the previous regulatory cycle. A development mistake during the first season of the ground-effect era forced McLaren to make up six months of lost time. Despite this setback, the team managed to recover, eventually going on to dominate the entire 2025 season.
“These kinds of results are, of course, the product of the development work of the entire team,” Stella said. “But for once, I would like to make a special mention of the technical team, the group that conceived, designed and developed a car that at the beginning of 2023 was the ninth or tenth best on the grid and that, just a few months later, had become one of the best, before then gradually moving into first place at the start of 2025.”
The Italian then went into greater detail, identifying six individuals who helped change the fortunes of the team in less than two years. For Andrea Stella, this is a reason to look ahead to 2026 with calm confidence, despite the clean slate created by the new regulations for all eleven teams.
“McLaren’s technical team is particularly strong. We can benefit from the contribution of Peter Prodromou, technical director for aerodynamics, Rob Marshall, chief designer, Neil Houldey, technical director for engineering, Mark Ingham, design director, Giuseppe Pesce, director of aerodynamics and chief of staff, and Mark Temple, technical director for performance. From this point of view, I think it is one of the strongest technical departments I have ever been part of in my long 26-year career in Formula 1.”
“This means that, even if the specifics of the current regulations will not necessarily be applicable in the future, the way of working, the standards, the approach to car development and the technical objectives will be carried forward as well, and this makes us optimistic for the 2026 season.”
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