Andrea Stella: “We started with some issues, but we improved after the Sprint. We didn’t manage well”
It’s fair to call Sunday’s race a McLaren dominance, as the team was never under pressure from rivals and only feared Lando Norris’ pedal issue worsening, risking a potential retirement. Andrea Stella expressed satisfaction with how the team approached the weekend, diving into a detailed analysis of the three days in Shanghai. “I must say that on the first day we had some issues with tire interaction and balance. We had to assess the situation during Qualifying and the Sprint. We learned a lot, made some adjustments to the car, and made some changes to driving style. Both drivers understood that the car couldn’t be driven the way we did in Australia. So, there was some adaptation, and I’m very satisfied to see the results of this adaptation work from both the team and drivers in both qualifying and the race,” he told Mara Sangiorgio on Sky Sport F1. The race performance was certainly satisfying, but the Italian wanted to emphasize that McLaren didn’t always appear to be the strongest in China. “Regarding the Sprint, I’m not sure we had any advantage; in fact, Ferrari was superior. After the changes, though, in Qualifying and the race, we did better, but I don’t think we had more than a couple of tenths of advantage, maybe.”
After Lando Norris, Andrea Stella also confirmed that the MCL39 is not an easy car to drive, especially when pushed to the limit for qualifying laps. This was compounded by some balance issues, which improved throughout the weekend. These problems influenced strategy, particularly in the Sprint Qualifying, where a decision was made to go for a double push lap despite the Soft tire compound. Andrea Stella described it as a conservative choice to take fewer risks, not as an attempt to show off confidence. “We wanted to be very conservative and have two attempts with the Softs because we weren’t sure we could do a clean single lap. So we wanted two attempts where the tires could almost replicate the lap time even after one lap. In the end, two laps weren’t even enough because if you look at Lando’s second attempt, he was on track for pole, but an imperfection prevented us from achieving a good time.”
In the race, McLaren’s true pace was evident, with setup changes after the Sprint Race and the reopening of the parc fermé yielding positive results for the MCL39. “We pushed throughout the race. Obviously, you don’t push 100% due to tire management. Especially after putting on the hard tires, after the stop, we were a bit on the lookout to see how the tires behaved, watching Stroll who was out on the hard tires.” As Frederic Vasseur explained, McLaren, like others, was balancing between a one-stop or two-stop strategy, monitoring the race’s progress and tire behavior. “We were uncertain, I think like everyone, and that was part of managing our competitiveness, but not by much. So I don’t think there was much difference between McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, and then what we saw with Verstappen at the end, even Red Bull. This confirms the trend of a very balanced F1 where sometimes these adaptations make the difference.”
A competitive F1 that will see new regulations next year. Andrea Stella’s thoughts on this decision:
There are many rumors surrounding the future of Formula 1, with the 2026 regulations already being discussed and potentially lasting fewer years than initially thought. This was not contradicted by Nikolas Tombazis in China. However, the introduction of new regulations for cars and power units next year is confirmed, and Andrea Stella responded regarding the usefulness of such a change in an already competitive F1.
“Regulation changes always bring uncertainty, as we saw in 2022. There was some Red Bull dominance, but after a few years, we now have an F1 that is perhaps the most interesting and balanced we’ve ever seen, at least from what I remember. So maybe we should be a bit patient, I don’t know, it’s possible there will be some reorganization of team competitiveness, but it’s also an opportunity for teams that have struggled to mature their performance with these regulations. There’s innovation with the power units, so we support this approach, we support this regulation change. Of course, we are now in a position where we might also want to say the opposite, but I believe we need to look at the collective interest, the interest of the sport. In the end, the success of a team makes sense if there’s success for the whole F1 business and movement, so we support this approach and hope to be ready.”
Leave a Reply