Alonso: Stella’s 2010 loss with Ferrari redeemed with McLaren win

Fernando Alonso has praised McLaren's remarkable turnaround and subsequent Constructors' Championship triumph in Abu Dhabi, insisting it served as long-overdue redemption for team principal Andrea Stella's agonizing loss with Ferrari at the same venue back in 2010.

The 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked a momentous occasion for McLaren, as the Woking-based outfit clinched their first championship title in 26 years.

For Stella, the chief architect of McLaren's success and who was Alonso's race engineer during his Ferrari tenure, the victory brought closure to a bitterly painful chapter from 14 years earlier.

Both men were at the heart of Ferrari's championship bid in 2010. Heading into the final round of the season at Yas Marina, Alonso led Red Bull's Mark Webber by eight points and Sebastian Vettel by 15 in the Drivers' standings.

However, Ferrari's strategy unraveled as Alonso pitted early to cover Webber's stop, only to emerge stuck behind Vitaly Petrov's Renault.

Unable to pass the Russian driver, Alonso crossed the line in seventh place, ceding the title to Vettel, who won the race and secured his maiden world championship.

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Reflecting on the parallels between that heartbreak and McLaren's success, Alonso was quick to commend Stella's work and draw personal significance from the result.

"Yeah, fantastic," Alonso said, quoted by Motorsport.com . "I'm a good friend of Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] and a very good friend of Andrea.

"In a way, I brought him to McLaren when I joined McLaren, so I told him before the race: 'What Abu Dhabi took from our hands in 2010, hopefully today gives something back to you.'

"And it did, so I'm happy for him. He deserves it, he's a very clever guy and McLaren is an example for many teams now.

"Zak is a very good friend of mine, we will spend some days together in the next few weeks and we'll have some fun with track days."

Alonso's relationship with Stella spans multiple teams and eras. Following their collaboration at Ferrari, where they endured both the anguish of 2010 and an equally near-miss title fight in 2012, Stella joined Alonso at McLaren in 2015 during what would be a challenging and uncompetitive period for the team.

Stella's leadership in the years since has been pivotal in steering McLaren back to the front of the grid, and Alonso believes the team's resurgence sets a benchmark for others to follow.

“Zak is a very good friend of mine, we will spend some days together in the next few weeks and we'll have some fun with track days,” Alonso added, highlighting his continued bond with Brown and Stella.

McLaren's journey to title glory has been nothing short of remarkable. At the start of the 2023 season, the team struggled to avoid double Q1 eliminations, but an aggressive development path culminated in a game-changing upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix, which catapulted them up the grid.

“The biggest change was last year,” Alonso explained. “McLaren did not do much in 2019, 2020, 2021, or 2022. They did not do much in 2023 until Austria when they were on the podium.

“In Austria they introduced a package that they gained six or seven tenths with, and that was the beginning of a series of packages that made their car the fastest, eventually.

“That Austria package, if we want to call it that, is something we need to work on.”

For Stella and McLaren, the victory not only broke a decades-long drought but also symbolized the resolution of unfinished business from a painful loss in Abu Dhabi over a decade ago.

For Alonso, who has fought countless battles on track, it was proof that perseverance and hard work can rewrite even the most challenging chapters in racing history.

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