Lando Norris just explained exactly why McLaren can’t lose Andrea Stella to Ferrari

Follow us on Google Discover

Lando Norris has explained why Andrea Stella is so valuable to McLaren amid reported interest from Ferrari.

Stella’s long-term future has been uncertain ever since McLaren announced the signing of Gianpiero Lambiase from Red Bull in April.

Red Bull are adamant that Lambiase will become McLaren’s team principal after joining in 2028, but this has consistently been denied by the reigning world champions.

Lando Norris: ‘A lot’ of McLaren’s success is down to Andrea Stella

Reports at the time suggested that Stella had signed a ‘pre-contract’ with Ferrari, having previously worked for the team between 2000 and 2014.

Speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Norris inadvertently highlighted why losing Stella would be so problematic. He doubts McLaren would have become world champions without the Italian’s leadership.

When Stella became McLaren team principal at the end of 2022, they had just finished fifth in the standings with one podium all year. Two years later, they won the constructors’ title for the first time in the 21st century.

What’s the BIGGEST reason for Ferrari’s F1 title drought?

It's now approaching 20 years

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

“Andrea’s one of the most unbelievable people that I’ve ever met, that can run a team, get the maximum out of a team, understand people, myself included,” Norris said.

“I genuinely don’t know of anyone better. I find it very difficult to believe there’s many people better than Andrea.

“[His greatest quality] is work ethic, understanding people. You have to understand people, how they work, how they maximise everything from a performance side of things.

“Just the environment, the mentality of the whole team, getting people to work together. There’s a lot that goes into making a good Formula 1, but there’s not been many teams that have gone from where we were a few years ago to beating Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull.

• READ MORE: Carlos Sainz has already explained why Andrea Stella would help Ferrari as McLaren exit looms

“We’ve clearly done a much better job than other people, and a lot of that is down to Andrea and understanding all of these things.

“If you have a 10-minute conversation with Andrea – for me, a lot of our conversations aren’t racing-related – that’s enough to realise the kind of person he is.”

If Stella does eventually join Ferrari, it’s unclear what it would mean for incumbent team boss Fred Vasseur. He reports to Zak Brown at McLaren, but it’s difficult to envisage a similar arrangement at Maranello.