Stella urges McLaren not to ‘drop the ball’ despite dominance

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has issued a firm warning to his team to avoid complacency, despite the Woking-based squad enjoying a commanding position in the 2025 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.

Speaking after a dramatic first half of the season that has seen McLaren surge ahead with nine wins from the opening 12 races, Stella made it clear that continued success depends on discipline, focus, and flawless execution.

Stella believes the turning point for team papaya came at the Canadian Grand Prix, where a late-race collision between teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri shattered what had otherwise been a near-perfect campaign.

The incident, which cost the team crucial points, served as a reality check for McLaren’s title charge.

"The performance we saw in Canada, that as soon as you drop the ball, you don't win anymore. So winning is not given for granted, winning is something that you have to earn,” Stella said at a McLaren Racing Live event.

“You have to earn it in terms of preparation, you have to earn it on the ground."

A Focus on Maintaining Momentum

Stella laid out McLaren’s strategy for the remainder of the season, urging the team to stick with what has worked – but with unwavering intensity.

“Well, the next strategy is to keep doing what we are doing,” Stella stated. “Which is not only in terms of trying to achieve the same results, but also have the same determination we need to maximise the potential of what’s available.”

That means learning from Montreal’s disappointment, staying sharp under pressure, and continuing to capitalize on the raw speed and consistency of the MCL39.

“The mission for the second part of the season is to go try and do our best to try to maximise our potential and keep winning races, keep giving our fans plenty of emotions,” Stella added.

McLaren’s Edge in Silverstone: Set-Up and Strategy

At last weekend’s British Grand Prix, McLaren once again showed its strength, with Norris and Piastri outperforming championship rival Max Verstappen by a significant margin.

The Dutchman finished a distant fifth, over 56 seconds behind, as Red Bull struggled with its setup in changing conditions.

Red Bull’s choice of a low-downforce rear wing worked like a charm in qualifying but backfired when wet weather disrupted the race. While Stella acknowledged the gamble, he suggested Red Bull’s problems went deeper than a mere inadequate aero set-up.

“When we made our rear wing choice, we didn't really think very much about the weather in the race,” Stella explained at Silverstone. “We tried to select the wing that we thought was the fastest in the interest of qualifying and in the interest of the race.

“I think for Red Bull, also based on some of the comments they made, the decision to go for a skinny rear wing might have been also for the possibility to be able to balance the rear wing with the front one."

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But McLaren’s pace advantage, especially in the wet, could not be explained by aerodynamics alone. Stella believes tyre management was the decisive factor.

“This is in Red Bull territory, it's their choice. I still don't necessarily think that the rear wing is the only reason why you perform better or worse in wet conditions,” he said.

“This is also to do with the way you use the tyres, with the way you retain the temperatures in the tyres."

"If you see our pace at some stage it was more than one second faster and certainly this is not because of the rear wing. This is more to do with the way you use your tyres," Stella concluded.

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