Stella promoted in McLaren F1 management reshuffle

Andrea Stella has been promoted to McLaren Formula 1 racing director as part of a senior management restructure carried out by team principal Andreas Seidl for 2020.

The Italian has stepped up from his previous role as performance director to complete a new three-pronged management structure devised by Seidl, who hopes to guide McLaren back to the front in F1. 

Stella will work closely with technical director James Key, who arrived in early 2019, and production director Piers Tynne to enhance the team’s on-track operations during grand prix weekends.

“I have a very strong line-up of people reporting into me, with James Key as technical director, Piers Thynne as production director and Andrea Stella as racing director,” said Seidl.

“I have full trust in them and their teams in everything they do and therefore they have my full backing.

“It is crucial to empower people, to encourage them to make decisions, to allow them to take risks and to back them up if it goes wrong because I accept that mistakes can happen.

“That’s the only way to get better and to improve as a team.”

Former Porsche LMP1 boss Seidl began work at McLaren in May last year and helped the team secure fourth spot in the constructors’ championship to cap off its most competitive season in the V6 hybrid era.

Despite McLaren’s impressive progress throughout 2019 - which included sealing its first podium in five years in Brazil - Seidl stressed improvements can still be made “everywhere”.

“Our aim is to become the best in this sport again in the future and we know that we are far away from this right now,” the German explained.

“We won’t get carried away with the good season we’ve just had; we’ll stay humble and continue to respect our competitors.

“We are aware of our weaknesses and will continue working hard with the plan we have in place in order to improve. We are on a journey and you can feel great momentum in the team.

“Our one team approach and the commitment we have from the shareholders means I’m optimistic that we can be successful again, but you need to be realistic about what’s achievable year-by-year.”