08/01/2024
NEWS STORY
Andrea Stella admits that the initial laps in opening practice at the Red Bull Ring signalled that McLaren had finally got its act together.
With just the one practice session before heading into qualifying, Lando Norris was in the much-anticipated 'new' car while teammate Oscar Piastri was in the older, original spec version.
Up until that point the Woking outfit had struggled, scoring just 17 points from the opening eight races, the majority of those coming in Australia, where, benefitting from the double DNFs at Ferrari, Norris finished sixth and his teammate eighth.
Having admitted that as early as the launch that it was on the back foot, rather than keep moaning about its plight as some did, the Woking team went about the job of turning its season around.
The introduction of the 'new' car in Austria was the beginning of a run of (high) points scoring finishes that lasted for the remainder of the year, which, despite the disappointment of Zandvoort, Monza and Las Vegas, saw the team claim fourth in the standings and Piastri winning the Sprint in Qatar.
Asked his standout moment of the season, team boss Stella admits to the KTM Summer Grill that it was those opening laps at the Red Bull Ring.
"I go by instinct and feeling in trying to answer your question," said the Italian, "and as I do so, what comes to my mind, almost in a visual way, is the early laps in Austria.
"We had, in Free Practice 1, Lando was in the new car and Oscar was in the previous car, and I could see in telemetry that Lando, thanks to the new car, he was able to carry quite a lot more speed in the corners. I remember thinking to myself 'this looks good'.
"So that was a good memory, good feelings which, thankfully, was confirmed by lap time and it was confirmed then by results."
Then, just seven days later, came Silverstone...
"We had a McLaren in the lead," said Stella. "We had two cars that should have finished on the podium, because Oscar's podium was missed just because of the timing of a Safety Car.
"That was kind of confirmation we are strong, we are on a good path," he added. "There was still good development ongoing that they would have seen the light later in the season. So that's two highlights, if you want, of this turnaround."