Stella: Honest communication at McLaren ‘puts you in a solid place’

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has imposed his own personal communication style since his arrival last year at the helm of the team, one that gives preference to transparency, honesty and the truth.

Taking over from the departing Andreas Seidl in early 2023, Stella embarked on a mission to reshape McLaren's technical structure and establish a new direction for the team.

But this overhaul extended beyond the technical realm, as Stella also embraced a more open and approachable leadership style, breaking through the barriers that often separate teams from their fans and the media.

As early as the team’s launch of its MCL60 contender, a candid Stella acknowledged the car’s under-developped status, a fact that was painfully confirmed in the opening races of 2023.

But rather than dodging the topic, the Italian proactively addressed the issues head-on, providing clear explanations and outlining a plan to rectify the situation.

It was the first clear sign of Stella’s willingness to be open and honest, an approach that resonated with McLaren's fanbase, fostering greater trust and engagement.

• Read also: Stella pinpoints exact turnaround moment for McLaren in 2023

Stella's refreshing transparency also earned him respect from the media, who appreciate his willingness to go beyond the usual PR speak and provide genuine insights into the team's operations and challenges.

"I have a very simple strategy: just say things as they are. It’s very simple. It puts you in a solid place,” he explained, quoted by Motorsport.com.

"If you try to create stories that don’t reflect the reality, that will allow you to get away with it for a short term, but it’s not creating foundations. If we want to create foundations we need to just stick with what we know, stick with what we think is true.

"Eventually I would rather say, ‘I cannot share this because I don’t want to give it away to our competitors or because it’s sensitive, or simply because I’m uncertain and I don’t want to offer an opinion just to show that I can talk about anything’. I’d rather say [nothing].”

Stella's approach marks a significant departure from the often secretive and guarded nature of Formula 1 team principals. But it’s also a reflection of McLaren’s internal culture and the values it embodies.

"Intellectual honesty, rigorousness – they are very important,” he continued. “And they are not important because they belong to me. They are important because they belong to our culture as a team.

"That means that this is an expectation from anybody working at McLaren. Intellectual honesty, rigorousness – acknowledging facts for what they are. Because once we know that, then we can do something about it. But creating after facts is just a short-lived approach."

Team papaya concluded its 2023 campaign on a high, with Lando Norris outscoring all his rivals – save for Max Verstappen – from the Austrian Grand Prix where McLaren began in earnest its upgrade programme.

Interestingly, Stella admitted that even McLaren’s early season struggles were gratifying, not solely the late-season streak of securing nine podiums.

"I have to say, I was enjoying it – this new experience in my professional career – even when the results weren’t very good on track," he commented.

"This is because effectively the real motivation, the real enjoyment I get in this job comes from the interactions with people.

"And then seeing that the group you are trying to build grows and seeing the people picking up, developing, becoming more competent, becoming more confident – this is actually what gives me the energy that generates the determination.

"When results on-track come, this is a reinforcement, this is an amplification. But you can’t base the motivation, you can’t base even the ultimate reasoning why you do this on results. You do it on the sense of building."

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