McLaren's Andrea Stella says the team won't change its principles and racing rules this year as its drivers Norris and Piastri both aim to start the 2025 Formula 1 season on the front foot.
After several years in which McLaren missed the mark at the start of the season, the papaya squad is now aiming to hit the ground running and continue the kind of title-winning form that yielded its first constructors' title since 1998.
Its poor start, before a spectacular turnaround from Miami onwards, seriously hindered Norris' outside chance of realistically beating Max Verstappen to the title, with McLaren opting to rule out team orders until September's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Now Piastri is adamant he has learned enough from an inconsistent 2024 campaign to be a stronger all-round performer in both qualifying and the race, so both he and Norris can fight for the championship as long as McLaren delivers the goods.
That will further test McLaren's racing principles, but team principal Stella is adamant nothing will change.
"The main aspect is that both drivers start the season with equal opportunities, and our fundamentals are based on the racing principles that we already used last year," Stella said at the Silverstone launch of McLaren's 2025 MCL39 car.
"We reviewed last season – and I was actually quite proud of last season – we reviewed all the situations in which there was a proximity between the two drivers, and I was quite impressed by how well they behaved. We take some learning from last year, but already I think that was positive in terms of how we interacted and acted together as a team.
"When we reviewed last season – the drivers and the team, most of the time represented by myself – we always looked at ourselves, ‘I could have done this better’, rather than ‘Lando saying Oscar should have done this better’, and Oscar saying ‘Lando should have done this better’. So, I think we take some learning from last year, but already I think that was positive in terms of how we acted together as a team, and then we will start from this concept of equal opportunities and our racing principles."
Stella added that drivers didn’t belong at McLaren if they didn’t buy into to those racing principles that put the team first, with any circumstantial team orders discussed and agreed in advance.
"It's important to say that the racing principles are representative not only of what the team believes in terms of how we go racing, but also what the drivers believe, because if a driver is not fully into these principles, then that's not the right driver for McLaren," he cautioned.
"I really look forward to having this kind of challenge. It means that we are doing well as a team, it means that the two drivers are doing well as drivers, and it means that the car is actually competitive, and we did a good job from a technical and racing point of view."
