2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[Emag]

According to Zak, Stella was one of his preferences for TP since back in 2019, however Stella refused the role back then because he did not feel ready. That's why he pursued Seidl. Surely his influence on the team must have been quite obvious to see for a CEO to notice it just one year after joining. Stella has been with this team since Fernando brought him from Ferrari. He was there during the worst time for McLaren and he was one of the few who saw the downfall of the team transpire. I would argue the downfall started a couple of years before Stella joined, but still, 2014/2015 is widely regarded as the beginning of the downward spiral for McLaren.

He is an exceptional talent with amazing problem solving skills. I think most people don't know he has a phd in mechanical engineering. A true engineer with a critical mind who keeps an eye on every little detail of the team. I am sure Stella noticed things going slightly south between 2021/2022, but because he was not the TP, the only thing he could do at the time was suggest changes.

I think it's not fair to judge Andreas Seidl for the short tenure he had at McLaren, but I am 90% confident that hiring James Key was one of the few wrong moves Zak Brown did on his journey to reviving this team. Cannot blame him as he was highly rated in the paddock a couple of years back, but he had hardly achieved anything worthy of a "wow" back then. In 2021, he just took over the mature concept developed by Pat Fry in 2019 (the 2019 car saw McLaren jump from back of the midfield to the front of the midfield). There were bad signs already in 2021 because the in-season development was laughable. Got completely slapped by Ferrari and went from fighting with them for occasional podiums at the beginning of the season to barely scrapping for points at some rounds towards the end.

And then 2022 was the real test for him and he failed. He came up with a bland looking car and admitted to taking the "safe cautious way". I just consider that fancy words for "this is the best I could do". Zak mentioned it somewhere that early 2022 was a tipping point for him because there was no sense of urgency in the technical team for the lack of performance. An upgrade at France was promised to deliver a big step, and when that failed the targets the reaction to the failure must have been pretty mild.

I am glad Zak took action. Key must have been overriding more talented people since he was the technical director. Once Stella came along, Peter Prodromou probably was given the reins in aerodynamics and boy did he deliver. Let's see what Key will do at Audi for 2026, but I have a feeling he will fumble that up too ...

The team is at a very good place right now, and it's almost criminal that poor management left some highly talented people on the sidelines. Of course the team has had reinforcements lately in the form of highly-rated hirings, but the team of people that initiated the turnaround last year were people that already were working at McLaren.

It just took a better leader to get things going.

[Harisudhan]

Quietly come on.

Oh, did I say that out loud?

there is such a thing If Monaco is also suitable, then what track might not be suitable?

Spa will be a great test. We struggled there the last 2 years because of aero inefficiency and RBR was utterly dominant during those weekends.

[BMMR61]

According to Zak, Stella was one of his preferences for TP since back in 2019, however Stella refused the role back then because he did not feel ready. That's why he pursued Seidl. Surely his influence on the team must have been quite obvious to see for a CEO to notice it just one year after joining. Stella has been with this team since Fernando brought him from Ferrari. He was there during the worst time for McLaren and he was one of the few who saw the downfall of the team transpire. I would argue the downfall started a couple of years before Stella joined, but still, 2014/2015 is widely regarded as the beginning of the downward spiral for McLaren.

He is an exceptional talent with amazing problem solving skills. I think most people don't know he has a phd in mechanical engineering. A true engineer with a critical mind who keeps an eye on every little detail of the team. I am sure Stella noticed things going slightly south between 2021/2022, but because he was not the TP, the only thing he could do at the time was suggest changes.

I think it's not fair to judge Andreas Seidl for the short tenure he had at McLaren, but I am 90% confident that hiring James Key was one of the few wrong moves Zak Brown did on his journey to reviving this team. Cannot blame him as he was highly rated in the paddock a couple of years back, but he had hardly achieved anything worthy of a "wow" back then. In 2021, he just took over the mature concept developed by Pat Fry in 2019 (the 2019 car saw McLaren jump from back of the midfield to the front of the midfield). There were bad signs already in 2021 because the in-season development was laughable. Got completely slapped by Ferrari and went from fighting with them for occasional podiums at the beginning of the season to barely scrapping for points at some rounds towards the end.

And then 2022 was the real test for him and he failed. He came up with a bland looking car and admitted to taking the "safe cautious way". I just consider that fancy words for "this is the best I could do". Zak mentioned it somewhere that early 2022 was a tipping point for him because there was no sense of urgency in the technical team for the lack of performance. An upgrade at France was promised to deliver a big step, and when that failed the targets the reaction to the failure must have been pretty mild.

I am glad Zak took action. Key must have been overriding more talented people since he was the technical director. Once Stella came along, Peter Prodromou probably was given the reins in aerodynamics and boy did he deliver. Let's see what Key will do at Audi for 2026, but I have a feeling he will fumble that up too ...

The team is at a very good place right now, and it's almost criminal that poor management left some highly talented people on the sidelines. Of course the team has had reinforcements lately in the form of highly-rated hirings, but the team of people that initiated the turnaround last year were people that already were working at McLaren.

It just took a better leader to get things going.

Wow, great post Emag. I can't see any inconsistencies in your account - cause and effect are addressed. Zak never ascribed to any technical knowledge but his forte was in management and sponsorship/relationship building. Having a non-technical background meant he had to trust who he had, and scout available personnel where he could poach them. Once the deficiency in the James Key technical leadership became more and more apparent, Zak acted and how good it was that rather than appointing from outside, he promoted from within. Most of the pieces of the puzzle were already there. Seidl was a corporate type guy from the Volkswagen conglomerate, not used to the under 1000 business model and also not strong enough in technical knowledge, certainly in the hands-on way. Thoroughly decent, Andreas was a bad fit once he got the commitment top modernising the tools - wind tunnel, simulation and fabrication tools - all of which would have been at the behest of those below him anyway.

So the strong growth starting in 2019 through to early 2021 reached it's limiting factors. Namely, good staff were being stymied by a technical director who failed in maximising the team's individual abilities into a coherent whole. Thank goodness the late 2022 into early 2023 management restructure took place in time to not lose guys like Prodromou who seems to be at the leading edge of F1 aero in 2024. Stella has enough technical background and plenty of people skills to be a fantastic "orchestra leader". It's wonderful for fans who have stuck with this team through some very sorry times to be here enjoying the fruit of a team that is greater than the sum of it's parts, as the old saying goes. If a poll were taken today among the F1 knowledgable, Andrea Stella would win best Team Principle hands down

[Kenzrc944]

Interesting read of how Imola unfolded via engineer to driver comms VER vs NOR https://www.racefans.net/2024/05/21/lan ... mola-duel/

[LionsHeart]

Oh, did I say that out loud?

there is such a thing If Monaco is also suitable, then what track might not be suitable?

Spa will be a great test. We struggled there the last 2 years because of aero inefficiency and RBR was utterly dominant during those weekends.

Perhaps yes. There are all types of turns and straights. But there are still many weekends ahead of Spa.

[mclaren111]

I rather think we stand a strong chance of the win at Monaco. Not sure if it will turn out that way, but my feeling is that we will benefit from a focussed low speed set up and the car will eat up the track.

Now watch me jinx it.

Anti jinx engaged

[BMMR61]

Oh, did I say that out loud?

there is such a thing If Monaco is also suitable, then what track might not be suitable?

Spa will be a great test. We struggled there the last 2 years because of aero inefficiency and RBR was utterly dominant during those weekends.

I'm not sure about that. Recalling Spa 2023 and McLaren got caught out with lack of development time for a suitable rear wing following the rush to produce all the new upgrades from Austria/Silverstone. They knew in advance this would be a potential vulnerability so decide to gamble on using a mid-high downforce wing which would be suitable for wet conditions. Remember Spa regularly gets heavy rain. Oscar led the Sprint race before settling for second behind Max. In the GP the car was hopelessly slow in the straights. McLaren have had plenty of time to rectify that particular issue. I expect they will be strong almost everywhere. Monaco will reveal a few more answers on the MCL38B.

[mclaren111]

According to Zak, Stella was one of his preferences for TP since back in 2019, however Stella refused the role back then because he did not feel ready. That's why he pursued Seidl. Surely his influence on the team must have been quite obvious to see for a CEO to notice it just one year after joining. Stella has been with this team since Fernando brought him from Ferrari. He was there during the worst time for McLaren and he was one of the few who saw the downfall of the team transpire. I would argue the downfall started a couple of years before Stella joined, but still, 2014/2015 is widely regarded as the beginning of the downward spiral for McLaren.

He is an exceptional talent with amazing problem solving skills. I think most people don't know he has a phd in mechanical engineering. A true engineer with a critical mind who keeps an eye on every little detail of the team. I am sure Stella noticed things going slightly south between 2021/2022, but because he was not the TP, the only thing he could do at the time was suggest changes.

I think it's not fair to judge Andreas Seidl for the short tenure he had at McLaren, but I am 90% confident that hiring James Key was one of the few wrong moves Zak Brown did on his journey to reviving this team. Cannot blame him as he was highly rated in the paddock a couple of years back, but he had hardly achieved anything worthy of a "wow" back then. In 2021, he just took over the mature concept developed by Pat Fry in 2019 (the 2019 car saw McLaren jump from back of the midfield to the front of the midfield). There were bad signs already in 2021 because the in-season development was laughable. Got completely slapped by Ferrari and went from fighting with them for occasional podiums at the beginning of the season to barely scrapping for points at some rounds towards the end.

And then 2022 was the real test for him and he failed. He came up with a bland looking car and admitted to taking the "safe cautious way". I just consider that fancy words for "this is the best I could do". Zak mentioned it somewhere that early 2022 was a tipping point for him because there was no sense of urgency in the technical team for the lack of performance. An upgrade at France was promised to deliver a big step, and when that failed the targets the reaction to the failure must have been pretty mild.

I am glad Zak took action. Key must have been overriding more talented people since he was the technical director. Once Stella came along, Peter Prodromou probably was given the reins in aerodynamics and boy did he deliver. Let's see what Key will do at Audi for 2026, but I have a feeling he will fumble that up too ...

The team is at a very good place right now, and it's almost criminal that poor management left some highly talented people on the sidelines. Of course the team has had reinforcements lately in the form of highly-rated hirings, but the team of people that initiated the turnaround last year were people that already were working at McLaren.

It just took a better leader to get things going.

[geogate]

Im pretty positive for Oscar at Monaco - if they get the set up working for slower corners, my money would be on him - the guy is driving so well

[mwillems]

Im pretty positive for Oscar at Monaco - if they get the set up working for slower corners, my money would be on him - the guy is driving so well

He's had a couple of good races and he's looked as good as Lando over these past two races but I don't think it was in doubt that he ever had the pace, it seemed fairly clear he was very fast.

These tyres and this formula demand a lot more from a driver though and within the constrains in modern F1, being consistently fast in races is pretty tricky.

I have hypothesised for a while now that Oscar will benefit from a pointier nose more than Lando will. But that's probably only because Lando is able to get more from the car that doesn't suit him than Oscar at this point and Oscar has needed more on the nose to get the car to behave the way he likes it.

It'll be really interesting to see over the coming 4 races, which includes Austria after Monaco, Barcelona and Canada, how the car performs at these tracks and how the drivers now get on with this car and who benefitted the most from the changes.

I may be being over cautious, but I don't think we are ready to make statements yet about just how quick this car is relative to other cars or which driver has had the bigger uplift as a result and who will press on.

I am biased, I want Lando to push on and be WDC, because I'm British. But I do love Oscar and want him to do well because he's as "Mclaren" as you get and is a great fit, so ultimately I'd be happy with either of them doing well. They both have different strengths and weaknesses.

[LionsHeart]

Showers are possible on Saturday. If it rains during qualifying, I expect Lando, Oscar and Lewis to be in the top 3.

[Luscion]

Mclaren's race suits and team gear for Monaco

[FittingMechanics]

Both helmets and the suits/team gear look great.

[SilviuAgo]

Both helmets and the suits/team gear look great.

Indeed

[LionsHeart]

Mclaren's race suits and team gear for Monaco


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GOMeoDTWQAA ... name=large

Bruno Senna behind.