Following McLaren’s latest battle during the F1 Hungarian GP, Andrea Stella remains confident that the team will keep up the momentum for the second half of the 2025 season. The team principal spoke about the primary concerns following the events in Hungary — other teams catching up to them. Moreover, Stella was pleased with the competitiveness of the MCL39.
The British team has been the most dominant so far this 2025 season, winning 11 out of the 14 rounds. Both their drivers are leading the championship. Besides a dreadful race-ending moment for Norris in Canada against his teammate, the #4 driver kept improving throughout the season. As for Piastri, some small mistakes here and there, yet his lead in the standings remains unaffected.
The benefit of recent upgrades
The F1 Hungarian GP put McLaren in a very bizarre position, according to both their drivers in the press conference. While they led during FP, Q1 and Q2, Q3 had them struggling to set a fast enough time for pole due to a wind direction change. As Charles Leclerc took his first P1 start of the season, Norris and Piastri had to battle him on track.
Andrea Stella did not let that Hungarian GP wobble harm the confidence he has in McLaren and their car for the rest of 2025. In fact, he went on to highlight the upgrades that have moved McLaren further clear of the field as the season has progressed.
“I think we have seen a very positive trend in terms of our competitiveness. Especially, I would say, over the last three events in which we have finished with a P1 and P2.
“And like I said in some other interviews, this is not only because we started with a competitive car. But, actually, we have upgraded the car since Canada with what was in the past a single instant upgrade, so it wouldn’t be very noticeable. McLaren bring a new car, and improves by a few tenths of a second.”
However, the latest rounds saw a steadier flow of upgrades every weekend.
“But in the recent races, we have upgraded the car with some parts at pretty much each race. So we have become faster,” stated the team principal during a print media session.
Learning from Hungary for the second half of the season
The McLaren team principal was quite unfazed by the issues in Q3 at the F1 Hungarian GP. In Stella’s point of view, the Hungaroring actually showed McLaren’s real potential in 2025. Furthermore, the final result only encourages the team, which is looking forward to the rest of the races.
“I think here at the Hungaroring, despite the result in Q3, has actually proven that the car is fast.
“I think every single session we were P1-P2 by a decent chunk compared to the next team. This makes us very positive about the remainder of the season. We look forward to starting racing again after the shutdown.”
With the summer break in full force at present, the discussion of preparation for the next races is in full force. Additionally, Andrea Stella spoke about the work that went into the MCL39, preparing for last year’s more challenging circuits.
“I think we have some tracks that will be favourable to us again, like Zandvoort,” admitted the TP. “And we have also done some specific work for some tracks like Monza or Vegas, in which, last year, we were not necessarily dominant. We knew that we needed to do some work for the performance at those tracks.
“So we definitely look forward to the second part of the season, and we expect to be competitive.”
As McLaren is getting ready to return in full force for the second half of 2025, Stella looks to have relatively no worries in terms of other teams catching up to them. The Papaya drivers appear to have learned from their past altercations on track, yet the next rounds will show just how far ahead the MCL39 is.
