Former Ferrari race engineer and current McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has revealed that part of his motivation for success in Formula 1 stems from a historic record set by the Maranello team more than two decades ago.
The Woking-based team has built on its impressive momentum from 2024, a season in which McLaren secured the Constructors’ Championship for the first time in 26 years. Carrying that strength into 2025, the squad has dominated, winning seven of the nine completed races so far, with drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris occupying the top two spots in the drivers’ standings.
Before joining McLaren, Stella spent 14 years at Ferrari, progressing through the ranks to become race engineer for world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. Early in his career at the Scuderia, he worked as performance engineer for Michael Schumacher—a period he often reflects on with pride and which sets a benchmark for McLaren’s current ambitions.
Ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Stella spoke about Ferrari’s dominance in the early to mid-2000s, especially their overwhelming superiority during the 2004 season. He recalled that during that era, it was possible to compare two cars from different seasons simultaneously, mentioning how both the 2003 and 2004 Ferrari cars were present at Imola, driven by Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello respectively. Stella pointed out that the 2004 car was exceptionally fast and consistent, reinforcing the team’s confidence in its superiority that year.
He noted that Michael Schumacher’s 2004 car won 12 of the first 13 races, with the only loss resulting from a crash with Juan Pablo Montoya during the Monaco Grand Prix under unusual circumstances involving a safety car. Andrea Stella regards this era as a golden reference point and motivation for himself and McLaren, even though he acknowledged that matching that level of dominance is unlikely to happen immediately. He emphasized that McLaren still has significant work to do to reach those heights and admitted the team remains several steps behind that kind of performance benchmark.
Is McLaren Set to Dominate Formula 1 in 2026?
Historically, McLaren has proven itself capable of absolute dominance when operating at peak performance. The late 1980s and 1990s stand out as prime examples, particularly the 1988 season when the team won all but one race, securing the Drivers’ Championship with Ayrton Senna. While 1998 was less dominant overall, Mika Häkkinen’s championship-winning campaign in the MP4/14 remains one of the era’s highlights.
Looking ahead to 2026, Formula 1 is entering a new phase marked by a complete overhaul of technical regulations, making the upcoming season one of unpredictability and intrigue. McLaren’s partnership with Mercedes, whose power unit is widely regarded as one of the strongest contenders for the next season, puts them in a favorable position. The team’s recent cars, including the MCL38 which won races, and the promising MCL39, which looks set to continue that success, have laid a solid foundation.
With chief designer Rob Marshall at the helm of the MCL40 project, McLaren appears poised to once again compete for the front of the grid under the new regulations. While it remains uncertain whether McLaren can replicate the dominant Ferrari era that Andrea Stella so admires, it would be unwise to underestimate their potential as they aim for continued success in Formula 1’s evolving landscape.
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