Not long after the 2023 season begins, we will get a real sense of where McLaren are as a team with Formula 1 title ambitions.
Up until last year, there weren't many who would have gone against the consensus that they were on the right track for F1 success. Lando Norris is a future title winner – provided he is given a car capable of such heights, of course – and the Papaya team had established itself as the leader of the midfield pack.
But right now, it feels like the team is at a bit of a crossroads. The new car regulations which came into force last season caused a bit of a hiccup. Car performance wasn't where they would have hoped. Norris just about coped okay. Daniel Ricciardo, despite his best efforts, just couldn't tame the MCL36.
And so they were usurped by Alpine in the standings. Neither had a trouble-free year but the Enstone squad just did enough to snatch fourth place and force McLaren, in terms of the championship result, into a backwards step.
It was Andreas Seidl's final season in charge. Behind the scenes, he had made it clear to chief executive Zak Brown that he would be leaving at the end of his contract. That wasn't due to come until 2025, so McLaren felt they had plenty of time. But then Ferrari's signing of Frederic Vasseur changed everything.
Alfa Romeo had lost their team principal, the man they had hoped would oversee the transition into becoming the Audi works team in 2026. That was when Seidl was supposed to rejoin Sauber, but Vasseur's exit saw that move fast-tracked and so Andrea Stella was promoted at McLaren.
The Italian has preferred to keep a low profile, which explains why he is something of an unknown quantity despite having worked in F1 for the last 20 years. That will no longer be possible now he is leading one of the larger operations on the grid, and an iconic British brand. Plus, Brown has rarely been known to do anything quietly.
The fact McLaren have promoted from within should, they will hope, minimise any disruption. But there will still be some form of transition, even if Stella insists he will remain largely faithful to the work done by Seidl over the past few years – with a few tweaks.
So McLaren have a new team boss, are currently overhauling and updating their major infrastructure and have changed one of their drivers to bring in a rookie in the form of Oscar Piastri. The consistently impressive Norris remains one of the few constants, though his role has now changed.
No longer is he the young starlet at the team. For the first time he is the senior racer, at the still tender age of 23. He will be tasked with helping Piastri to settle into the sport while also looking to achieve his own ambitions – a first F1 race win still eludes Norris and he would no doubt love to finally break his duck this year.
As for Piastri, he will be rusty after a year out but McLaren are convinced they have another gem on their hands. The Aussie has been heralded as a future star as a result of his stellar career in the junior formulae, but that is no guarantee of F1 success. The less-than-subtle way in which he left Alpine for McLaren may also add extra pressure from the outside.
Brown is excited about the 21-year-old but has also been keen to temper expectations, declaring his belief that "everything is really going to come together in 2024 and 2025". Given the amount of change going on at McLaren, he may well be right in suggesting that the upcoming season may be too soon to expect anything outstanding from the Woking-based team.
