How Stella tried to trigger Red Bull after extension announcement

Andrea Stella put Red Bull Racing on notice after he extended his contract with McLaren. On the day when Red Bull announced that another key figurehead was leaving the team - Jonathan Wheatley - McLaren's team boss Stella extended his contract with the British racing team and highlighted their 2024 title push in both World Championships.

McLaren has made significant progress over the last 12 months. In 2024, the team became regular contenders for race wins and were successful in Miami and Hungary. Some would argue - including those in the team - that they should've got more wins. Still, they are knocking on the door of Red Bull in the Constructors Championship with a 42 point deficit at the summer break. A points gap that is possible to overturn in one single weekend.

But that's not all. Stella has put Red Bull on notice and explained that they also have Max Verstappen firmly in their sights.

"This campaign has been extremely successful. Many podiums were achieved. 10 of them in a row, like no other team. Two of which have been victories. We see that McLaren are serious contenders for the final victory in both championships," Stella explained in a video from McLaren.

"Internally at McLaren, we say let's keep growing. Let's keep building. I will keep building at McLaren for a long time. I'm proud and privileged to be in a position to serve the team. I'm excited to see what we can achieve as a team together," Stella concluded.

At the end of 2022, Stella was promoted internally at McLaren to team principal. Stella was no stranger to Formula 1, with his main role as performance/race engineer for Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, among others. In December 2022, Stella was promoted at McLaren after Seidl moved to Sauber. Early 2023 was still difficult for the team, but since then, the road to recovery has been set.