McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has maintained that allegations levied against the Woking squad during the 2024 F1 season were “disinformation” and “completely absurd”.
Specifically, the Italian highlighted the suspicions of water being injected into the McLaren tyres to manage temperature, underlining that such stories come with being at the front of the pack.
Nuisance issues are all part of the territory, as Stella attests, with McLaren claiming its first constructors’ championship since 1998.
The team it de-throned, Red Bull, pointed the finger in that particular case, after itself was accused of altering the ride height – or front bib – of the RB20 under parc ferme conditions.
With regards to the so-called tyre trick, Max Verstappen suggested injected water helped explain McLaren’s superior long-run pace, despite the FIA finding no evidence of impropriety. They are claims Stella swiftly dismissed, something he has since reiterated.
“Sometimes, we have seen that especially with those stories about water in the tyres, you have to deal with disinformation,” the 53-year-old responded when speaking to Motorsport.com.
“These are things that you know are completely absurd. But they still become news and you can’t ignore them. You have to deal with them in a certain way. That was a new dimension for a team that hadn’t fought for victories for a long time.
“That ultimately required a lot of attention and it was never enough. It would be easy to say ‘that’s enough, this will be an easy win’, but that’s not how it works in Formula 1. You have to reposition yourself all the time and that’s difficult to accept in a way.”
Stella pointed out that whilst McLaren has had to adapt to life “in all the headlines” again, the associated challenges will not subside in time.
Instead, he and the team must develop ways to manage those stresses, as it looks to build on a first constructors’ championship in 26 years.
“What’s difficult, even if you’re used to fighting at the top, is dealing with all the noise and all the distractions that are there both internally and externally,” he said.
“You want to stay focused, but to do that you need to have a structured approach to manage all the noise. You have to deal with the fact that you’re in all the headlines now.”
