Lando Norris may have missed out on this year’s drivers’ title, but his McLaren team enters the final two races of the Formula 1 season on the brink of its first constructors’ championship in 26 years. In an increasingly close battle with Ferrari, McLaren leads the Italian team by 24 points with two races remaining and a maximum of 103 points up for grabs for either side.
If McLaren can close out the championship over the next two weekends in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, it will represent its biggest triumph since Lewis Hamilton won his first drivers’ title with the team in 2008.
The story of how McLaren went from the lower midfield to the front of the grid is a remarkable one that has not only transformed the team’s fortunes but also revitalised F1. Along with the recent resurgence of Ferrari and Mercedes, McLaren’s progress has brought an end to Red Bull’s domination, while providing inspiration to the rest of the grid that big gains are possible in a relatively short period of time.
Laying the groundwork
At the start of the 2023 season, it seemed inconceivable that any team, least of all McLaren, would challenge Red Bull for titles before the next major regulation change in 2026. After struggling in preseason testing, Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri failed to score points at the opening two races of 2023 as the car emerged well off the pace of Red Bull, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Plans had already been in place for an overhaul of the technical department, and they were implemented ahead of the third round in Australia. James Key was removed from his role as technical director and replaced by three heads of departments in a new structure aimed at providing “clarity and effectiveness” to a seemingly lost Woking design office.
The broad changes were the vision of Andrea Stella, who took over the role of team principal from Andreas Seidl at the end of the 2022 season and is considered by many to be the driving force behind the team’s turnaround. A talented engineer who worked directly with Fernando Alonso during his time at Ferrari and followed the two-time champion to McLaren in 2015,…
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