McLaren’s new team principal Andrea Stella has been issued his orders by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, with the American wanting the team’s former executive director to hold “total responsibility for the performance” of the Woking-based outfit.
Stella’s end-of-year promotion was not expected, with Mattia Binotto’s resignation from Ferrari having caused a chain reaction of events.
Shortly after it was announced that Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur would be replacing Binotto, Sauber revealed that they’d poached McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl, who has turned McLaren around in recent years.
When Seidl joined McLaren from Porsche, the side were enduring a woeful spell; however, the German has steered them back to the top of the midfield and occasionally beyond.
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Daniel Ricciardo’s win at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix was the side’s first since 2012, marking an occasion for both the team and Seidl to celebrate.
There is no doubt that he will be sincerely missed, with Lando Norris having had a particularly strong relationship with him.
Times change in Formula 1, though, with McLaren having opted to promote someone to the role in-house, rather than go elsewhere as done by Ferrari, and Sauber.
With that in mind, Brown has revealed that Stella will be responsible for how Norris and Oscar Piastri perform, with the American certain that promoting Stella is “best” for the British team.
“From our standpoint, what I am looking for from Andrea is total responsibility for the performance of the Formula 1 team,” said Brown.
“All these teams [that made changes], some are structured similarly, some are different.
“It is a team effort so I will continue to do what I think I do best which is commercial, marketing, bringing in the best people and giving them the resources and direction to let them do their job to the best of their ability.
“Ultimately, Andrea’s responsibility is the performance of the Formula 1 team.”
Whilst Sauber, McLaren, and Ferrari were announcing changes, Williams joined the party by revealing that Jost Capito had left the role of team principal at the Grove-based team.
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Incredibly, all the news broke on the same day last week, with Brown having been asked why there has been so much team principal action this winter break.
“F1 is a very fast-paced, performance-driven business so all I can speak to is McLaren’s situation,” Brown said.
“I don’t have enough visibility to know about Ferrari. That team did a good job this year, they were very competitive, while Jost obviously had challenges [at Williams].”