The sorry state of affairs at McLaren isn’t just limited to 2023. After a revival in 2019, more was promised to come. 2020 followed suit, and by 2021 the Woking-based team was voicing their intentions to challenge for the championship in the coming years. However, after a disappointing 2022, this year, their developmental gaffe has left them scrapping for single-digit points, and missing out on them, on most weekends.

With the risk of losing out on Lando Norris, and catching the ire of their own fans, enough seems to be enough at McLaren now. The team have apparently doubled-down on the acquisitions department and has already poached two big-name players from rivals Red Bull and Ferrari. But with the team’s immediate future down in the dumps, how did they convince Rob Marshall and David Sanchez, respectively, to jump ship?

McLaren reveals what sells them higher than their rivals

Jumping into McLaren is a long-term project. But both Sanchez who shall assume the role of Technical Director (Car Concept) and Marshall, the new Technical Director (Engineering & Design) have left their comfortable, glory-earning lives at Ferrari and Red Bull for just one special reason.

In a feature for Motorsport Magazine, Andrea Stella, Team Principal for McLaren explained, “I think people also understand that turning things around at McLaren now, and winning at McLaren, means making history in Formula 1. And some of the big names we are hiring, I think they understood this special context in which they will be operating.”

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While getting proven winners is one way of going about things, Stella has also worked hard to eradicate a fundamental problem within the team.

Andrea Stella exposes a very specific problem

The new signings are sure to add that extra oomph in McLaren’s road back to glory. However, for Stella, as important as these acquisitions have been, it has also been of huge import to change the way things ran at the team which led to its eventual demise.

Stella expanded upon this by saying, “There were some other elements, which were more kind of McLaren-specific. One is what we call internally ‘dilution’. In many things, we do this dilution – there’s some technical roles and they become a little managerial. Technical, it’s a technical role, no dilution.”

“So becoming performance-led and removing dilution was a fundamental element of the vision. And then really, it’s about creating a vision and objectives for the team. And then empowering the key people and giving them the resources such that they can fulfill the objectives.”

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Can Andrea Stella save the sinking ship at McLaren?