McLaren F1 boss reveals star rejected key role BEFORE championship push

McLaren boss Zak Brown has revealed that a key member of their team rejected taking a role in the past.

McLaren have turned into a strong challenger for the constructors’ and drivers’ titles this season, but their upward trajectory has been the product of years of hard work going on behind the scenes.

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The papaya team's rise has often been credited to Andrea Stella taking over as team principal in 2022 following Andreas Seidl’s departure.

McLaren finished fifth in the constructors’ championship in 2022, bettering it to fourth last year, and are now glaringly close to overthrowing Red Bull from the top spot with 10 races to go.

Is Andrea Stella the right man to guide McLaren to F1 title?

Under Stella’s leadership and technical acumen, McLaren started the year slowly, but their potentially season-defining upgrades in Miami have arguably made them the fastest car on race pace, going toe-to-toe with Max Verstappen at most races since.

In a recent interview, Brown praised Stella’s management, and explained how the former Ferrari performance engineer has changed the team’s vision and output.

Brown told the BBC: "A leader's job is to get the most out of their people and that's what we didn't have previously. We weren't able to let the talent we have in here flourish.

"Andrea communicates very well. He listens very well. He's very hard-working. He's very technical. He leads by example. All the traits you would want in a great leader. He unlocked the potential this team clearly had sitting there."

Stella joined McLaren in 2015, initially joining as head of operations. He then became the performance director in 2018 before becoming racing director in 2019.

Finally, in 2022, he took over the reins as team principal, but Brown had his work cut out in convincing him.

"Truth be known, I offered it to him the first time around [when Seidl was appointed in January 2019], and he declined it," Brown continued. "He felt he wasn't ready.

"Andrea is someone who knows his capabilities and doesn't overreach.

"The second time around he knew me better, knew the team better, even though he'd been here a while. And still he didn't say yes in the first phone call.

"It took a couple of days because he's very methodical, very thoughtful."

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