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Andrea Stella’s appointment as Team Principal presented both the continuation of a long-term project, as well as a clean slate.

Joining in 2015 and 2016, respectively, Andrea and CEO Zak Brown arrived at McLaren within a year of each other, and between them, they’ve overseen continual heavy investment in our facilities and improved the team’s technical structure.

When Andrea stepped up to become Team Principal in December 2022, our driver line-up for 2023 had already been confirmed, but with Oscar joining the team as a rookie and Lando taking on the mantel of being the team’s senior driver for the first time in his career, Andrea and the team had the chance to mould the pairing to their liking and develop a new team dynamic.

“The more Oscar performs, the more Lando receives references from Oscar,” Andrea explains. “That's how two drivers get the most out of each other, by having useful references from your teammate that you can see in the data and hear in the comments.

“At no point have I had the impression that our two drivers were thinking, ‘I need to beat my teammate,’ which is a short-sighted approach to racing. Everyone understands that we are a team. There are bigger objectives here than our own personal aims, which is what will lead McLaren to success. Lando and Oscar are perfectly on board with this and are fundamental pillars in this journey.”

Since the first major upgrade to his MCL60 ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando has taken eight points finishes from eight races, including podiums at the British, Hungarian, Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix. He’s also qualified in the top three in five of the last 11 races and made the top 10 in every single one, firmly cementing himself as a leader within McLaren and as one of the grid’s outstanding drivers.

“Lando has confirmed himself as one of the established top drivers in Formula 1,” Andrea continues. “As soon as he was given the opportunity to perform [with the upgraded MCL60], he has taken three podiums. He has finished second three times and in two of those races were only beaten by a combination of driver and car that is, at the moment, almost in a separate category of racing.

“That is confirmation of the strength of his race craft. I would also like to praise the qualities that not everyone gets to see – for example, his collaboration with Oscar. At no point has Lando thrown his [weight] around and said, 'Hey, I am the driver who has been here for four years.’ There has been parity between them, which has helped Oscar perform.”

Oscar has enjoyed an awe-inspiring debut season. In the F1 Sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix, he became the first rookie to lead a race since Esteban Gutiérrez in 2013 – a feat he repeated in the Italian Grand Prix. Then, in the Japanese Grand Prix, he finished third to become the first F1 rookie to stand on the podium since Lance Stroll in 2017 and the first McLaren rookie to do so since Kevin Magnussen in 2014.

The 22-year-old only continues to improve: Since taking on the first upgrade package at the British Grand Prix, Oscar has finished in the points five out of the last seven races, as well as second in the F1 Sprint at Spa.

His qualifying performances have arguably been even more impressive, with eight top-10 finishes in the past 10 sessions, which includes second at the Japanese Grand Prix and dates back to before he had taken on the upgrade.

“We've been immediately very impressed with Oscar, both from a driving and a personality point of view,” Andrea continues. “We've been impressed by how he assesses where he is in terms of performance: knowing what is working and what isn’t when it comes to the car and his driving.

“He’s been able to identify these weaknesses and collaborate with his engineers on what needs to be improved and changed – he can then go out onto the track and do it. For me, this is the purest definition of talent.

“Oscar is very calm and focused on himself – he is not affected by what is happening around him. There is no external noise in his brain. He doesn’t dissipate or dilute his talent into things that are not useful or functional, and that was apparent to us relatively early on.

“At this stage of the season, I would say that his gradient of growth, performance, and delivery has exceeded expectations. We are very optimistic and encouraged by what we’ve seen, and we are happy with Oscar and happy that he is with us. He’ll help us to achieve important results.”