What is the biggest issue faced by McLaren according to former F1 driver?

Former McLaren driver Pedro de la Rosa feels the team's biggest issue is not the personnel but the tools that they have at their disposal.

The Woking-based squad has been going through a period of transition. Andreas Seidl has left the team and has been replaced at the top by Andrea Stella. Even on the technical front, James Key has been let go and a different three-pronged structure has been put in place.

However, Pedro de la Rosa does not think that the personnel are the problem for McLaren. In his view, it comes down to the fact that the personnel does not have the tools to battle against the competitors.

Talking about his former team on the F1 Nation podcast, De la Rosa said:

“Interestingly about McLaren, I don’t think they have a problem with the people. The biggest issue, I would say, is the tools, that wind tunnel, they have been working on the wind tunnel of Toyota for now more than 10 years I would say."

He added:

“This is something that if you’re fighting against the top guys, they all have their own tools, you need to have your own tools. Otherwise, you cannot keep the development pace. But I’m sure that they are on top of it and I’ve been told they’re building a new wind tunnel, that will be a massive boost for McLaren.”

New McLaren team principal is a good leader!

Talking about Andrea Stella, De la Rosa felt that the was the right man for the job. Stella had worked with the Spaniard during their time at Ferrari and hence was rated very highly.

Talking about the new leader of the team, De La Rosa said:

“Andrea is a great leader. Because when I was at Ferrari, I was really impressed with him. Especially when he was talking on the radio with Fernando, it was impressive how much respect Fernando had for Andrea."

"When things went wrong, you could sense that Fernando was asking Andrea for his point of view, which is very uncommon. He’s a great leader and he will find the right route to success for sure.”

Stella does have a problem on his hands when it comes to getting the much-needed results for the team.

The last three seasons have seen the team in a steady decline. It started with the P4 in 2021 when the team lost to Ferrari, P5 in 2022 when Alpine leapfrogged, and in 2023 when the start has been far from impressive.