10/08/2024
NEWS STORY
Amidst an increasing amount of movement of personnel between teams, McLaren has extended the contract of team principal Andrea Stella.
This year, other than the annual game of driver musical chairs, we are witnessing a significant number of changes in terms of leading personnel such as engineers, team principals and technical directors.
Clearly aware of this, and equally aware of the magnificent job he has done in turning the Woking outfit's fortunes around, McLaren has extended its contract with Andrea Stella.
Since taking up the role of team principal in December 2022, the team has progressed rapidly under his guidance, earning two Grands Prix wins, a further 18 Grands Prix podiums and one Sprint win.
Prior to his team principal role, Stella worked as Head of Race Operations and Performance Director, before being promoted to Executive Director, Racing in 2019. Before joining the team in 2015, he started his career at Ferrari, working as Performance Engineer for Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen and then as Race Engineer for Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso during his 15-year tenure.
In the past year, the team has confirmed multi-year extensions for drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Today's announcement reaffirms the long-term stability of the team in its pursuit of World Championships.
"It's a privilege to be part of the McLaren Formula 1 team," said Stella, "and I am honoured to continue in my role as Team Principal. We've made great strides forward in the past year and a half and we still have a lot more work to do to consistently fight at the front of the grid, which poses an exciting challenge. Success comes through the Team working in synergy, and I am enjoying my role, which has allowed me to help unlock individual talent and empower people to work together towards our Team's objectives.
"My thanks go to Zak for his confidence in me as a leader, to my entire leadership team and all my colleagues in the Team, for their continued collaboration and support. I am excited for what we can continue to achieve together."
"I am delighted to confirm we've extended Andrea's contract as our F1 Team Principal for multiple years," added Zak Brown. "His excellent leadership, expertise and the respect he holds within the team and Formula 1 means we could not have a better person in place to continue the pursuit of consistently fighting at the front of the grid.
"His impact on McLaren F1 in his role as Team Principal has been profound, not only through our results on track and the trajectory of the team but also in his development of our culture and mind-set.
"With multi-year extensions already agreed with Lando, Oscar, and now Andrea, we can confidently continue on our quest to become World Champions. We're all looking forward to the years to come under Andrea's leadership."
Interestingly, Stella assumed the role of team principal following the departure of Andreas Seidl to Audi in preparation for its entry to F1 in 2026. Just a couple of weeks ago, Audi announced that Seidl had been dropped in favour of Mattia Binotto.