Stella: The 2025 Formula 1 world champion must drive a McLaren

Stella described the atmosphere as “very positive” despite the growing intensity of the title battle between his drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Revealing the team is “very excited to be in this strong position in the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Championship” and that McLaren “has what is needed, a fast car, two fast drivers, and a team that is prepared and determined.”

Speaking to reporters in Sao Paulo on Friday, Stella added that everyone at McLaren feels “privileged to be the team trying to stop Verstappen’s dominance” and that the focus will be to “keep the fight going until the last corner in Abu Dhabi.”

Stella emphasised that McLaren’s goal is to avoid internal rivalry and keep both drivers aligned for the team’s greater good. He referred to lessons from the 2007 season when McLaren lost the title to Ferrari because of internal conflict.

“We always take a look at history and try to understand what has happened and what are lessons learned,” said Stella. “When we look back at 2007, we know there was quite a lot of internal competition at McLaren. Potentially, that competition went a little too far, and we could say that racing led the victory to the third one, of another team."

The McLaren TP continued: “This is a conversation we are having internally right now. We are having conversations with Lando and with Oscar, let’s make sure that the winner drives a papaya car. There is a bigger interest for the team and even for yourself because we look at the future as well, not only the present.

"Let’s make sure that we collaborate as much as is sensible to do so between two drivers to make sure that the title is a papaya overall, and a papaya car.”

Stella said Interlagos should suit the MCL39’s strengths, describing it as a track that plays to McLaren’s aerodynamic and cornering advantages explaining: “Brazil, together with Qatar, is one of the races that should suit the characteristics of our car."

“There are long corners, not much braking, and the trajectory is not prescribed in the corners, which are the conditions in which the MCL39 seems to express the best.

"Free Practice 1 confirmed that expectation. But there is a lot of variability, especially with the weather, so it is not only about the pace in the car, it will also be about execution and operations," he maintained.

After two difficult weekends, Stella claimed Piastri has rediscovered his confidence in Brazil; he said: “Oscar has already provided the answers in Free Practice 1.

"Pretty much every time he was setting a lap it was the fastest in the session. He is confident. His comments in the car and in the debrief show that he feels in tune with the car and that what he is doing generates lap time in a natural way.

“This was not the case in the last two races, but those conditions were quite unnatural to Oscar. He learned quickly, and it was a shame he could not show the pace in Mexico because he was blocked in traffic all race. I think we have a very strong Oscar here, and hopefully we will be able to confirm this throughout the weekend.”

Stella explained his approach to managing the title fight is built on communication and facts, not speculation; he commented: “I have always tried to look at the facts.

"I focus on the facts, I talk about the facts. Facts are the foundation of all the conversations I have, including with the drivers. And we try to make sure that what is noise is very well distinguished from what is factual.”

With one point between Norris and Piastri in the championship, Stella’s message was clear. The title must be won together, and the winning car must be papaya. On Saturday in Qualifying, they finished P1 and P3, respectively.