Andrea Stella explains why he rejected McLaren team principal role in 2018 despite Zak Brown pleas

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McLaren have consolidated their position as the best team in Formula 1 this season and have already claimed their second consecutive constructors’ championship.

The last time the Woking-based outfit went back-to-back was between 1988 and 1991, when they won four times in a row during the Ayrton Senna era. The most impressive of McLaren’s most recent constructors’ championship triumph has been their dominance. No one had come close to them.

Led by Andrea Stella and Zak Brown, their transformation over the last few seasons has been nothing short of remarkable. Heading into the 2026 F1 regulations, they must be considered the favourites to burst out of the blocks quickly.

Stella ‘never told’ Brown he wasn’t sure about the 2025 car and whether they had spent enough time trying to improve it. After their performances this year, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are ‘sons’ to Stella, and he gets on really well with both of his drivers.

READ MORE: Ralf Schumacher shares what ‘reliable source’ has told him about Zak Brown’s preferences at McLaren

Andrea Stella rejected McLaren team principal job in 2018 because he was already in the ‘right role’

Stella knows where Norris is ‘definitely’ better than Piastri, and both drivers have his full support as they pursue a maiden title across the final four races of the Formula 1 season. Compared to where the team were six or seven years ago, it’s a dream scenario.

But, to get there, it has been a long road. Stella has now revealed on F1’s Beyond the Grid Podcast that he originally rejected the team principal role in 2018, because he wanted to gain a better understanding of the details within the factory before taking it.

“In 2018, I think my focus, based on the conversation I had with McLaren, should have been diverted to the technical aspect, and the small things, the performance difficulties that we were having,” he said.

“In fact, at the time, I became performance director, and I think we needed to stay focused, relatively limited in the area of influence, because there was a significant amount of insight that I needed to gain. When you are a team principal, necessarily you need to navigate at a slightly higher level, less detailed.

“At the time, we were in such a negative spiral that we needed to go into every level of detail to understand why a talented group of people is not in condition to perform.

“I felt at the time that was the right role for me. I’m not kind of a career-led person, I’m more like what’s needed for the business. I know I’m going to get passionate about what I do anyhow.”

READ MORE: Andrea Stella knows what ‘can’t happen again’ for Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri to win the F1 title

Andrea Stella shares what he ‘learned’ at Ferrari before joining McLaren

Before joining McLaren, Stella was renowned for being Fernando Alonso’s race engineer during some of his best years with Ferrari. The Italian got to work with some incredible individuals during his time with the Scuderia, who he credits for helping him improve.

“I have been able to collaborate with people from whom I have learned a lot,” Stella continued. “I think if there’s a characteristic that I always tried to pay attention to, in my own personal development, it’s [to] learn from the people that you work with.

“Learn from the people that you interact [with]. It’s such a faster way of becoming every day, a better version of yourself.

“If I think, working with Jean Todt, Luca di Montezemolo, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, Stefano Domenicali, Michael Schumacher. There’s so much that you can absorb to become a better version of yourself.”