Andrea Stella (ITA) McLaren Team Principal. 05.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18, Qatar Grand Prix, Doha, Qatar, Preparation Day.
McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella insists the side must “stay humble” as it closes in on overhauling Aston Martin in the 2023 Constructors’ Championship.
Last time out in Qatar, both McLaren drivers recovered from down the order to finish inside the top three, ensuring McLaren scored a consecutive double podium.
With Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris also classifying first and third in Saturday’s Sprint race, McLaren took another sizeable chunk out of Aston Martin in the points standings.
Having trailed the Silverstone side by 137 points at one stage, McLaren’s mid-season resurgence has seen it reduce the deficit to only 11 points with five rounds remaining.
But despite Fernando Alonso claiming Aston Martin must “accept” it will soon relinquish fourth position, Stella asserts the Woking squad can’t take anything for granted.
“Look, in Formula One, I don’t know of any walk in the park ever,” Stella said. “We stay very, very grounded.
“And, you know, we saw how marginal things are. You saw today what happened with Mercedes [drivers collide at Turn 1], what happened with Ferrari who didn’t even start [fuel system issue on Carlos Sainz’s car], and this is not because they are not great teams with great drivers.
“This is because the sport is very marginal and the best thing you can do is just stay focused, humble and keep delivering and then like I say, we will see in Abu Dhabi.”
Lance Stroll (CDN) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR23 and Oscar Piastri (AUS) McLaren MCL60 battle for position. 08.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18, Qatar Grand Prix, Doha, Qatar, Race Day.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack is also against declaring the contest is a done deal heading into the final stretch.
Aston Martin is set to be boosted at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix by the addition of further upgrades, as it bids to recapture its early-season momentum.
“No, I think you always have your destiny in your own hands,” Krack stated. “You have to try and improve the car, which we still try to do and then try to fight this as hard as we can.”
However, Krack accepts that Aston Martin lacks the pace to compete against McLaren “at the moment”, adding that “it will be tough” to keep the papaya-liveried team at bay.
Nevertheless, he drew positives from the British marque’s display in Qatar. Fernando Alonso managed to qualify fourth before finishing sixth in Sunday’s race.
But Krack is wary that the deleted track times in qualifying that impacted McLaren meant that Alonso’s second-row starting berth wasn’t truly reflective of its pace.
“We were a little bit better than we were recently, but not enough to jump a position,” Krack reflected. “We managed to keep the Ferrari behind but then when the Ferrari was in front, we were also not able to pass it.
“I think it was not really a surprise because we need to also not forget that in qualifying we had a good ranking, but we had also some deleted lap times. So you think you are high up on the grid, but it is not 100 percent reflecting your performance.”
Keyword: McLaren must ‘stay humble’ in Aston Martin F1 battle – Stella