Stella compares modern McLaren to glory years of Ferrari

Italian engineer Stella worked at Maranello with seven-time Formula 1 champion Schumacher as an engineer during that period but told reporters at the Hungarian Grand Prix that he had been surprised by McLaren's growth.

McLaren won the Formula 1 constructors' title last season and are running away with both championships this year, with Australian Oscar Piastri and Britain's Lando Norris fighting for the drivers' crown. The pair were in a league of their own during Friday free practice sessions at Hungaroring today.

McLaren have won 10 of 13 races so far and are a mighty 268 points clear of second-placed Ferrari in the team standings. In 2023, they were fourth overall and in 2022 fifth.

"It's always difficult to compare across seasons," said Stella, who joined McLaren from Ferrari in 2015. "In this case, we are comparing across teams, and even myself I was in a very different role, so my field of view, my perspective was very different.

"But if I had to pick a couple of features of the journey that is happening here at McLaren, I would say the rate of progress that we have had in a couple of years is in itself pretty unique. And possibly the rate of progress itself was even faster than what we experienced at Ferrari in the very competitive times," recalled Stella.

The great Schumacher won five Formula 1 titles in a row between 2000-2004, with the last one a particularly dominant season and Ferrari winning 15 of 18 races.

Stella said McLaren had set out an ambitious programme when deciding how much effort to put into developing their car this season, with a new engine era coming in 2026 that could shake up the pecking order: "We wanted to try and clear the 'going into race weekends.

"You never know who's going to win' situation we had last year, and we thought we needed to do a little bit more than the normal development. We embraced a very aggressive approach to innovation. The MCL39 is a very innovative car," Stella said and revealed it had also been upgraded considerably since the start of the season.

Piastri and Norris have called the title battle a two-horse race, with the Australian 16 points ahead of his teammate but a massive 81 clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in third place, but Stella disagreed: "Definitely not. I only agree with mathematics. So once mathematics tells us that's the case, then I'll change my answer."