Ferrari must try and poach another ‘brilliant’ figure from McLaren alongside Oscar Piastri

Follow us on Google Discover

Ferrari managed to become the biggest talking point in the build-up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix despite being virtually anonymous during the previous race in Brazil.

Charles Leclerc refused to blame Oscar Piastri for solely ending his race at Interlagos, before Lewis Hamilton retired after suffering damage following collisions with Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto.

Ferrari president John Elkann then made a statement that put his team back in the spotlight, suggesting that his drivers were the reason for their disappointing 2025 campaign, citing their public criticism of the car’s performance.

This comes after Leclerc was linked with Aston Martin among other teams on the grid, and Hamilton’s contract length was discovered after a disappointing start following his move from Mercedes.

One of the names that has been bandied around when discussing potential future options for Ferrari in the driver department is Oscar Piastri.

Piastri has been mentioned as an option for Ferrari, but if the team really want to solve all of their issues on and off the track, then the man they should really be targeting from McLaren is their team principal, Andrea Stella.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Ferrari must target Andrea Stella if they want to return to winning ways

Journalists Rebecca Clancy and Ben Hunt were discussing Ferrari’s current predicament on the Inside the Piranha Club Podcast.

Clancy said: “I do feel like Fred Vasseur, the buck stops with him, right as it always does. It stops with the boss.”

Hunt replied: “Well, what about Andrea Stella going back there?”

Clancy then explained: “That would be a hell of a coup, wouldn’t it? That would be absolutely amazing.

“I mean, he is a lifelong Ferrari person. I mean, he’s Italian, right? So he started his entire career.

“He was at Ferrari when Schumacher was there. All of those glory days.

“He is almost singlehandedly being credited with what is happening at McLaren. Although I do actually think Zak Brown deserves a lot of the credit, too.

“He is a phenomenally brilliant guy. He is amazing to talk to. He can make the most complicated things seem really straightforward. He’s great for culture.

“He’s tried so hard this season to keep it fair between the drivers, and even though there have been lots of memes and it’s been difficult. I think that was the right approach.

“If Ferrari could tempt him back, crikey, that would be absolutely amazing. I’m sure they are probably wondering how to do that.”

READ MORE: Luciano Burti shares why McLaren team boss Andrea Stella is so good at his job

What Andrea Stella previously said about the ‘quality of the people’ working at Ferrari

Stella was asked on a 2023 episode of Beyond the Grid about his time at Ferrari and said: “The seniority, the quality of the people involved; it was just extraordinary.

“I think some of them, they even accepted to stay in a certain role, knowing that they were absolutely ready to pick one or two higher levels had they gone to another team, but they accepted to stay in that role because that’s what was needed to create what was possibly the strongest team that we have seen in Formula 1.

“There was so much continuity in this journey where you keep identifying what you need to add, and you keep building brick by brick.

“I think this is something that we sort of missed during the Fernando [Alonso] era. And we could have built it, but definitely would have needed a lot of continuity and this brick-by-brick approach that was established as of the mid-90s at Ferrari.

“There are some elements of the script that haven’t changed over the years, independently of the role that I’ve been in.

“And continuity and seniority, they do form part of this script. And this is what we are trying to do with McLaren as well.”

Why Andrea Stella would be such a good fit for Ferrari after his McLaren success

One of the issues that Vasseur is facing is dealing with the team culture at Ferrari.

Although their most successful recent team principal, Jean Todt, was also not Italian, the team appear to have a distrust of anyone arriving from outside Italy and trying to change the internal dynamics at Ferrari.

Hamilton’s suggestions for improving the team didn’t go down well with everyone, and so someone like Stella might be required to help mould the team slowly and in the right direction.

He understands how the team already works, what went wrong while he was employed by the Scuderia, and how to turn things around.

McLaren were at the back of the grid at the start of 2023, but have now won back-to-back constructors’ championships.

If Ferrari are really serious about the next era of Formula 1 being a success, then bringing in Piastri alongside Stella is the perfect solution.