Andrea Stella claims Miami win ‘important’ for 2024 title and already all in for 2025

Andrea Stella claims Miami win ‘important’ for 2024 title and already all in for 2025

9th January 2025 0 By Kamron Kent

McLaren Racing’s Team Principal, Andrea Stella claimed the 2024 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix was an important factor in their 2024 constructors championship bid, whilst being all in for 2025. 

Feature image credit: McLaren Racing

McLaren will be heading into the 2025 world championship as the reigning world champions with a clear ambition of following up on their title success with another consecutive title in 2025, after pipping both Ferrari and Red Bull Racing in 2024. 

In the new year, three senior figures at McLaren; Stella, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and Racing Director Randeep Singh sat down to reflect upon their achievement, confirming they were still ‘processing’ their feat.

It was acknowledged that McLaren was not initially in the title fight as Stella pointed out the team were the fourth-best team at the start of the season. However, the team principal believed Lando Norris’ maiden win in Miami was ‘important’ and gave the team hope for a title fight. He said:

“It was definitely important, the race in Miami because it gave us reassurance that we had made a step from a performance point of view because, in fairness, the start of the season was not necessarily in terms of the pecking order or progress compared to the end of last season. 

“We were the fourth-best team in Bahrain, in Saudi, but in Miami, we took a step forward and I think there we started to realise that something important was possible, and certainly try and do better than the season before – where we finished fourth.”

Norris took his first of four wins at the Miami Grand Prix, with the American race being his first-ever in the sport. He followed this up with wins in the Netherlands, Singapore and Abu Dhabi which built up and secured McLaren’s title, in addition to wins taken by Oscar Piastri.  

Despite this, the McLaren Racing CEO was sceptical about McLaren’s championship bid after Norris’ first win. Brown’s scepticism was placed as a result of the team’s earlier performances and believed the team should focus on winning a second race before considering the overall title fight. 

According to the CEO, the championship ambition didn’t ‘kick in’ until Piastri’s win in Hungary, which Singh agreed. He said: 

“I didn’t think when we went to Miami I thought ‘here we go’ but it still seemed, given the start of the season, like championship? Let’s just worry about winning a second race. 

“It didn’t kick in for me until probably Hungary, where it was like one-two, dominant, like actually, not out of reach.”

Having secured the world title, Stella has confirmed he is already all-in for the upcoming season with a fresh new championship on the cards, confirming he will be enjoying the winter break in Italy. 

“I will be in Italy but like I’m already all into 2025, like my thoughts are there, you know like we are full of energy, good feelings that came from the positive, important outcome of the 2024 season,” commented Stella. “But this business doesn’t really give you much time to stop and appreciate, you need to keep going, keep the pace up and yeah, that’s my space at the moment.”

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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