Andrea Stella admits McLaren ‘focus’ shift after missing F1 development targets

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Andrea Stella admits McLaren have shifted their ‘focus’ as the Woking natives have missed some of their development goals for the launch of their 2024 Formula 1 car.

The Papaya team unveiled their newest challenger on Wednesday as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri got their first taste of the MCL38. Silverstone hosted McLaren for a shakedown ahead of pre-season testing in Sakhir from February 21 to 23 and, also, the Bahrain GP on March 2.

McLaren have sought to introduce a raft of ‘innovations’ with the MCL38 having finished last season strongly. Only Max Verstappen (346) en route to the Red Bull driver’s third F1 title in a row scored more points than Norris (181) across the final 13 rounds of the 2023 campaign.

McLaren turned a sluggish start into a strong F1 season in 2023

Norris enjoyed seven podiums, including six second-place finishes, during the final 13 Grand Prix last year. Piastri also recorded his debut podium as a Formula 1 driver before also being the first rookie since Lewis Hamilton with McLaren in 2007 to take multiple rostrum finishes.

Piastri even won the Sprint at the Qatar GP from pole position ahead of runaway champion, Verstappen. But McLaren’s sluggish start to last year meant they finished the season fourth in the constructors’ championship. McLaren scored 285 of their 302 points from round nine.

Stella admits the MCL38 is not a finished product for pre-season

McLaren CEO Zak Brown raised fears for his team’s year at pre-season testing in Bahrain last February. He admitted that the Woking squad failed to hit their development targets. Norris even felt McLaren only had the baseline they should have had in Bahrain at the end of April.

Now, team principal Stella has admitted that McLaren have, again, failed to meet all of their development goals for pre-season. He is pleased with what progress the Papaya squad have made to improve the MCL60. But McLaren’s focus has shifted to finishing the job in-season.

“The team has done a good job over the winter and we are confident we can hit the ground running,” Stella told BBC Sport. “But we know we have important tasks at hand before the season starts.

“There are a number of innovations on the car but not all the areas we want to address have been completed for our launch-spec car. Those areas now become the focus of our in-season development, which is already in progress.”