Andrea Stella realizes that McLaren’s updates have worked this weekend. Lando Norris will start from pole position during the Hungarian Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri starts from fifth place. Stella is generally satisfied with the development of the car. “The speed of the car here shows that we are going in the right direction,” said Stella.
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Andrea Stella emphasizes that McLaren has implemented updates that promote the team’s progress, but that there is still room for improvement. “The updates work as we thought. The speed of the car here shows that we are going in the right direction. However, we still have a lot of work to do to consistently compete with Mercedes and Ferrari. So for now, this is good progress, but we still have improvements to make,” Stella said after qualifying in Hungary.
‘It’s a surprise’
According to Stella, Ferrari is primarily the competitor, as Norris had to fight them for pole position. “It’s a surprise when we look at the third part of qualifying. Hamilton and Leclerc did not improve. We were able to fight them for the first starting spot. This progress came from the hard work of the team and there is a lot of focus on development. The updates have confirmed on track what we already thought, which is good news. We still have enough work to do to keep driving here and compete for pole and victory,” said Stella.
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Regarding the McLaren drivers, Stella said the following: “Lando has been doing well all weekend. He knows exactly how to drive with this improved car. If you have difficult conditions on this track, you have to adapt to them, and Oscar does that quickly. It’s a shame he couldn’t drive his last lap, because he really could have improved. It’s still a good starting position for him and we’ll see tomorrow,” concluded the McLaren team boss.
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