In the end, a P3 for Oscar Piastri and a P6 for Lando Norris, were not the results McLaren was hoping to wrap up its sprint qualifying session in China with, as a dissapointed Andrea Stella admits.
In the end, a P3 for Oscar Piastri and a P6 for Lando Norris, were not the results McLaren was hoping to wrap up its sprint qualifying session in China with, as a dissapointed Andrea Stella admits.
Having started the season off on the right foot, McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, now looks toward the first sprint event of the season, doesn’t want to let his foot off the gas since he is aware the papaya team’s competitors have not yet shown their full might.
With the first round of the championship marking McLaren’s first good start to an F1 season since early 2010’s, team principal, Andrea Stella admits to being surprised, not by the team’s MCL39 being competitive, but by the sheer extent of its strength, however he does see in Ferrari’s SF-25 a potential threat to the papaya team in 2025.
Lando Norris’ win has gotten McLaren’s season off on the right foot, however, it’s not as good as it could have been for the papaya team’s principal, Andrea Stella.
After a rocky period of ‘Papaya Rules’ within McLaren last season, things were cleared up between the team prior to the beginning of the season. However, in just the season’s first race, team orders were given out again. Andrea Stella explains the situation.
Lando Norris nearly led every lap at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, and manage to bring home the MCL39 in first place this Sunday. McLaren at one point had quite a huge gap, but Max Verstappen was right behind the Briton once they crossed the finish line. Andrea Stella explained how Norris and Verstappen’s performance compared.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start the Australian Grand Prix from P1 and P2, respectively. However, team principal Andrea Stella is not entirely confident due to the weather forecast for Sunday’s Grand Prix. In dry conditions, as shown in qualifying, he is confident in the McLaren’s pace, but in the rain, there is a different danger.
With Lando Norris topping the first practice session and Oscar Piastri leading his British teammate in the second, team principal Andrea Stella can’t be anything but happy with how the first day of racing action went for McLaren as he stated in the Woking-based team’s press release.
In Formula 1, it is common practice: if a team is successful, its competitors try to snatch their best personnel. Red Bull Racing knows it all too well, following the recent exits the team has experienced. McLaren is now the top team and, almost naturally, the British now have to deal with what Red Bull suffered from for a long time: staff being poached.
Entering the 2025 campaign, many believe McLaren are the favourites as the grid is set to travel to Australia next weekend. Team principal Andrea Stella underlined that achieving one of the titles did not change their mindset.
