Who is Andrea Stella? From winning F1 titles to becoming McLaren team principal

McLaren F1 team recently announced Andrea Stella as their new team principal. Though not many fans might know the 51-year-old Italian, he is quite a successful individual in the sport, winning several titles with some of the most successful teams and drivers.

Stella started his journey in the sport by joining the most prestigious team in the paddock, Ferrari. After graduating in aerospace engineering from La Sapienza University in Rome and completing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, he worked as a performance engineer for Ferrari's test team from 2000. In 2002, he was promoted to performance engineer for Michael Schumacher until 2006.

He even became a performance and race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. Since all these drivers, bar Alonso, won championships during their careers at Ferrari, it is clear how influential Stella was in bringing the best performance out of the team.

In 2015, the Italian joined McLaren as head of race operations and was promoted to performance director in 2018 and eventually race director in 2019. He was right under Andreas Seidl, the former team principal at the British team.

Although Stella was mostly behind the scenes, he has been a pivotal figure in Ferrari as the team won loads of titles while working there as an engineer. Furthermore, he and Seidl worked hard to reshape and push McLaren to the top of the grid. Hence, after Seidl left the British outfit, Stella was immediately appointed as the team principal.

---

Andrea Stella 'a great example' of McLaren F1's strength: Zak Brown

During the silly season period for F1 team principals, McLaren announced that Andreas Seidl will be leaving his post as team principal and Andrea Stella will be replacing him.

Zak Brown, McLaren's CEO, spoke about the move and praised Andrea Stella for what he has achieved in the sport. He has also been an integral part of the British team as he worked alongside Andreas Seidl. Brown said:

"I'm delighted that Andrea Stella will step into the Team Principal role and lead our F1 technical and operational programme. Andrea is a highly talented, experienced, and respected member of our team with a strong track record of leadership and success in Formula 1."

He further added:

"His move into this role is a great example of the strength in depth we have in our team, and I’m excited to be working more closely with him with a joint focus on moving up the grid and winning races."

The silly season of F1 team principals started when Mattia Binotto parted ways with Ferrari. A few days later, Frederic Vasseur was appointed by Ferrari as he left Alfa Romeo. Subsequently, Alfa Romeo signed Andreas Seidl from McLaren, resulting in Andrea Stella becoming the new team principal. Meanwhile, Williams parted ways with their team principal, Jost Capito.