When it comes to McLaren, their “secret weapon” has nothing to do with any flexi-wing shenanigans.

Instead, according to CEO Zak Brown, it is their team principal Andrea Stella who is the “real secret weapon” at McLaren, the “best in Formula 1” at his job.

McLaren: Andrea Stella their ‘secret weapon’?

McLaren came into F1 2025 as title favourites for many and backed that up with Australian and Chinese GP victories, Lando Norris winning in Melbourne before Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two across the line in Shanghai, where Norris had nursed his MCL39 – suffering from a long brake pedal – to the chequered flag.

It came at a time when debate continues over Formula 1’s latest flexi-wing saga, the FIA having introduced a fresh Technical Directive ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix after deploying rear-facing cameras – fitted to the cars for Friday practice in Melbourne – to monitor rear wing flexing.

The FIA had ruled all 10 teams in compliance after Melbourne, but the latest clampdown came after the governing body found ‘sufficient grounds’ for a ‘tougher test’ to be introduced.

McLaren were at the centre of the whole flexi-wing drama last season due to their ‘mini-DRS’ innovation, the team proactively offering to change their rear wing design after talks with the FIA. However, ahead of F1 2025 getting underway, Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache had suggested that McLaren and Ferrari were still up to those tricks.

But, when speaking to Sky F1 alongside team principal Andrea Stella after that Chinese GP one-two, Brown would reveal what the “secret weapon” for a McLaren team which has started 2025 in imperious form actually is.

“Definitely wasn’t what it might look like on paper,” said Brown on the result, a nod to Norris’ brake pedal issue.

“Team did a great job with strategy. Once again, I think we’ve shown we’ve got the best driver line-up.

“And then our real secret weapon is, to my left, the best team principal in Formula 1. So you put those combos together, and all the great work that the men and women have done at McLaren, back at the MTC [McLaren Technology Centre], and here at the racetracks, we’re getting great results.

“But you can see it’s pretty close, so you’ve got to keep focusing.”

Key Chinese GP talking points

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Stella – Michael Schumacher’s former Ferrari performance engineer, who went on to become race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso – has held the McLaren team principal role since 2023 and in that time has overseen the team go from one of F1’s slowest to Constructors’ Champions.

Last year Stella agreed a new multi-year contract extension at McLaren, and ahead of the F1 2025 campaign, Piastri received the same treatment.

And when asked how important it was for McLaren to lock Piastri down with a new deal, Brown replied: “Critical for the whole team, right?

“If you look at our pit wall, our technical leadership, Andrea, our drivers, you know, it’s all about stability, visibility, teamwork, camaraderie.

“And the drivers get along great. They’ve done such an outstanding job. They came back from the winter so focused on themselves, on the team, technically understanding what we’ve done with the car, and they’re just both at the top of their game. And it’s great to see how great they’re both doing.”

Norris leads the early F1 2025 Drivers’ Championship standings with an advantage of eight points over reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, while McLaren top the Constructors’ standings by 21 points over Mercedes.

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