McLaren team principal Andrea Stella reveals that he was the driving force behind the appointment of Gianpiero Lambiase as the new Director of Racing at the British team. The Italian hopes to create a similar kind of team at McLaren as Ferrari had in 2000: ‘This way we can build an increasingly stronger team at McLaren’.
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Last March, both Red Bull and McLaren announced that Gianpiero Lambiase will move to Woking after 2027. Immediately, speculation arose about the exact role of the British engineer at his future employer. For example, team principal Laurent Mekies said during the Canadian GP that Lambiase is leaving Red Bull to become team principal at McLaren. None of that is true, the British team in question reiterates.
“What I said earlier is that for us at McLaren it is important to attract the best talents in Formula 1,” Stella told the media in Montreal. “Zak (Brown, ed.) and I want to build the strongest team, not just for now, but I think we have some good examples of strong teams from the past. I was part of the Ferrari team in the early 2000s, and I know what level of seniority, expertise, and leadership you need to be successful now and in the future.” Stella began his career at Ferrari in 2000, where he worked with, among others, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen.
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McLaren’s vision
“The recruitment of GP (Lambiase, ed.) is part of this vision, namely creating additional leadership that can integrate with the current leadership and form an increasingly stronger team at McLaren,” the Italian team principal further explained. Ultimately, it was Stella who was also the driving force behind the efforts to bring Lambiase in. “I really wanted GP to come work at McLaren,” he said. “I am personally very busy in my role as team principal, and I need a strong group of leaders who work with me. The plan is very clear. All other speculation just brings us back to the ‘silly season’.”
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