McLaren, the rivalry between Norris and herds is too risky

Andrea Stella’s skill is not discussed. In just two years at the helm of McLaren he managed to revolutionize the organization of the team by bringing it back to the top of Formula 1. A sort of technical-sports miracle, considering the long times that serve to create a winning structure made up of a thousand people. The former decayed nobleman returned to conquer the World Cup in 2024, putting an end to a fast that had lasted for 26 years, many more than those who separate Ferrari from the last title won in 2008 with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. The combination is due, because Stella comes from the Ferrari one, grew as an engineer next to the myth Michael Schumacher in the golden age of the Triumphs of the Cavallino, when at the helm of the company there was the president Luca Di Montezemolo and the Team Principal Jean Todt. That culture of successes has remained and brought it with him to McLaren, a team equally rich in history, growing in the roles until he becomes his head on the circuits.

between past and present

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But Stella, thanks to his past, has also been able to mature new beliefs over his career. And so, in the “Dream Team” that he built at Woking, there are different aspects than the Red of the 2000s, starting with the idea of ​​entrusting the technical direction to a triad of brains instead of a single leader, although he seals all the “chief designer” Rob Marshall, Adrian Newey dolphin at the time of the Red Bull. But the element of greatest discontinuity compared to the years of the Ferrari epic seems to be the pilot theme. Stella worked with Schumi in a team that revolved around the German champion. He was the first guide. The second, in that case Rubens Barrichello was destined to collect podiums and important points for the manufacturers’ ranking. But the hierarchies were clear and inviolable.

Different stables, different strategy

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Today, however, Stella smiles in front of the philosophical distinction between the first and second pilot. In his McLaren there are two pilots on the same plane, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, free to fight each other (it also happened in the final of the Imola race) and both aim for the title. Not surprisingly, he chose young people, talented and without trophies on the bulletin board to be asserted. There are no Hamilton and a Leclerc. However, the choice, although appreciable from a sporting point of view, also hides risks: two teammates with the same car and the same opportunities are potentially also two rivals that escape points each. As long as you dominate, as happened to the McLaren of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, there is no problem. If, on the other hand, the opponents are fierce, the question becomes more complicated. This is the case of Max Verstappen, which continues to undermine Stella’s “cockerels”, making the difference also with a Red Bull lower than the Woking car. The four-time world champion, winner of the Sunday of the Emilia-Romagna GP with a masterpiece race, approached 22 points from the summit. So Piastri and Norris are not safe. The lesson of last year, when Max ticked her with the help of the errors of the two rivals and the carelessness of their garage, still burns. Against a mastiff like this, the opportunities must not be wasted, let alone make war at home. Who knows if the peace between Oscar and Lando will last.