F1 | McLaren, Andrea Stella new Racing Director

McLaren continues to renew its technical/sporting management. The English team has indeed promoted Andrea Stella as the new Racing Director, a position held until 2018 by the Frenchman Eric Boullier.

The 48-year-old Italian engineer, who arrived at the Woking court in 2015 together with Fernando Alonso both from Ferrari, will be at the helm of one of the three key departments of McLaren: that of track performance. The other two areas are under the control of James Key (technical director) and Piers Thynne (production director), all under the supervision of technical team principal Andreas Seidl.

"Motorsport is a team sport. You can never do it alone – Seidl himself admitted -. I have a very strong line-up of people reporting to me, with James Key as Technical Director, Piers Thynne as Production Director and Andrea Stella as Racing Director. I have full faith in them and they have my full support. It is crucial to empower people, encourage them to make decisions, allow them to take risks and support them if this happens. The only way to improve and improve as a team".

After difficult past seasons, 2019 was McLaren's best year since the hybrid era began. The British team in fact finished the World Championship in fourth place in the constructors' championship.

Seidl, speaking about the next championship, said: “The rules don't change much, so our goal must be to continue to progressively improve. We have to keep our heads down. We still have a lot to work on. We started last season more than 1,5 seconds from pole and towards the end of the year we were within eight tenths. It's still a big gap that we need to fill".