F1 News: McLaren Chief Looks Ahead To '25 Championship Despite Battle For '24 Title

Saajan Jogia | Nov 12, 2024

Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; McLaren Formula 1 Team driver Lando Norris (4) of Team Great Britain drives during the Sprint Race in the 2024 Formula One US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is pleased with the team's progress this season and the "standards" it has set for itself, despite some mistakes he aims to address to maintain championship-winning momentum into next season.

The Papaya outfit started the season on the back foot without knowing that it would be leading the Constructors' Championship in a few months. The Miami Grand Prix was the turning point for the team as the upgrades introduced on the MCL38 F1 car showed true colors by catapulting Lando Norris to the top spot. Since then, there has been no looking back for the Woking outfit which went on to surpass Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship with its winning form after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The team is now reviewing missed opportunities to ensure it can capitalize on them in the future. However, Stella confirmed the importance of giving due credit to the team and drivers for upholding high operating standards, which have propelled the team forward and enabled unexpected achievements. Speaking to the media, he explained:

“I think if you make the same question to every team, if they are honest, they will all say ‘yes, we have many opportunities that we should review'.

“This is our mindset always. If you don’t review the opportunities, you are never going to get better.

“And while we are in this quest this season, we also want to be in the quest for the championship in the future, so we want to cash in every learning.”

He added:

“At the same time I would like to review that since we delivered lap time to the car in Miami, McLaren has outscored by far every other competitor,” he continued.

“So I think that while we have opportunities, the amount of points that we have scored – not necessarily because we have had the best car like I keep repeating, because we had the best car at a few events, not all – it’s just because the team and the drivers operated at very high standards.

“We take these high standards as a positive, as the foundation to keep building.

“And to keep building, definitely, you need to look at what you haven’t done perfectly. But this is what we do all the time.

“This is where our culture works very well and hopefully, there won’t be many opportunities left in the final part of the season.

“But at the moment, we are extremely happy with what we have been able to achieve and with the standards that we have been operating throughout the season.”