AUGUST 14, 2024

Why McLaren Rushed Stella's Contract Extension

Zak Brown has shown he’s an adept of long term planning when it comes to securing the many talents he has in his team.

That’s why the American extended Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s contracts in the last 12 months, knowing other top teams would be keen to snatch them away close to the end of their previous deals, with Red Bull at the top of the list but with both Ferrari and Mercedes also potentially interested in securing the services of any of the two youngsters.

Now McLaren has announced that Team Principal Andrea Stella has also signed a multi-year extension of his contract, the team making sure the Italian, who has had a huge impact in the performance of the squad, is not going to go anywhere any time soon. As Zak Brown explained, “with multi-year extensions already agreed with Lando, Oscar, and now Andrea, we can confidently continue on our quest to become World Champions.”

As we’ve pointed out on a number of occasions, things have changed a lot in the way teams are run in the last decade or so. Apart from Toto Wolff, who’s not only Mercedes’ Team Principal but also owner of one third of the shares of the German team, and Christian Horner, who has led Red Bull Racing since its foundation, Mike Krack is the longest serving Team Principal in the field, even though the man from Luxembourg only took over his role at Aston Martin in January of 2022! This means 80 per cent of Formula Team Principals have less than 30 months in the job, when in a not too distant past people would lead teams for decades!

While there’s no indications there will be a change of leadership at Mercedes any time soon, it’s not a secret that Christian Horner’s fortune hangs entirely on the outcome of the court case that has been brought against him by a Red Bull employee. And while there’s no guaranteed timeline for this matter to reach its conclusion, it’s quite possible Horner will be forced to abandon his role if the outcome of the court case is not favorable to him.

And should Red Bull find itself in need to find a new Team Principal, the recent announcement the team’s Sporting Director, Jonathan Wheatley, will leave to become Audi’s leader has taken away a likely candidate for the job. Of course, Red Bull could still promote internally, calling Laurent Mekies or Peter Bayer – even both! – from VCARB, but given the tremendous impact Stella had in McLaren’s return to the front of the field.

That’s why McLaren’s move, offering Stella a new, long term contract, is a preemptive move that shows Zak Brown seriously value the contribution of the Italian engineer and is aware he’d be an attractive proposition for rivals teams if he’d get close to the end of his existing contract with no new deal in place.