Andrea Stella Promoted To McLaren Racing Director Position

McLaren formula one team boss, Andreas Seidl, promoted Italian engineer Andrea Stella to the position of racing director, thus completing the leadership structure of the team.

Stella had left Ferrari after 2013 to join McLaren and became the performance director.

Going forward, Stella is going to be responsible for the operational duties and race engineering on the Grand Prix weekends. However, he is also going to retain the previous engineering assignments alongside McLaren technical director James Key.

Seidl claimed he has a strong line up of individuals reporting to him with Key as the technical director and Piers Thynne as the production director, while Stella would be the racing director.

He added that he has full trust in them and their teams as well as everything they do, so they have his full backing.

As a former Porsche LMP1 executive, Seidl started working at McLaren in May 2019 and assisted the team in achieving fourth in the constructor's championship to cap off the most competitive season since the hybrid engines were instituted in Formula One.

The appointment of Stella completes the efforts of Seidl to achieve a traditional top tier management structure offering reporting lines and a simplified type of decision-making process.

The management changes at McLaren were initiated in 2018 under the guidance of Zak Brown, McLaren Chief Executive.

The internal transformation was followed by Key's recruitment from Toro Rosso and Seidl from Porsche.

The changes were found to be beneficial to McLaren as they enjoyed a revival in their performance in the midfield. More improvement is expected in the upcoming 2020 season.

As the team works to bridge the gap with the front runners, it is also preparing for changes lying on the horizon for 2021. It concerns the regulation changes of the sport and their switching from Renault to Mercedes.

McLaren has made impressive progress throughout the 2019 season. It included their first podium finish in five years in Brazil, though Seidl stressed improvement may still be made in every sector.

He stated the team is aware of their weaknesses and is going to continue working hard with a plan in place to improve. Their one team approach and the commitment had from shareholders meant they were optimistic and successful.

Seidl emphasized the need not to underestimate what the competition can do. He said they all have high targets, and they are working towards them as well.