Stella: 2024 Driver management process will carry over to 2025

McLaren, who secured the 2024 F1 constructors' title, came under a lot of criticism for the hesitant manner in which they managed Norris and Piastri, especially as the former was challenging Max Verstappen for the drivers' title but was not given the priority early enough to assist him in the fight with the eventual title winner in 2024.

McLaren heads into the 2025 season as favorites for both titles as they finished the 2024 season with the best car on the F1 grid, the MCL38, which proved to be a great all-rounder compared to the machines produced by Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes.

That means McLaren drivers will probably be fighting for wins from the start of the upcoming season, which wasn't the case in 2024, which means driver management will be a key factor.

Asked if his team would change how they managed their drivers in 2025, Stella said: "First of all, I hope you are right [that they are fighting each other]. We do want to have that kind of problem.

"We worked very hard to have a problem of having a car in condition to win races and two drivers in condition to win races, and we know that this one in Formula 1 always comes with some complications.

"But these are complications that we have already faced this season to some extent," he admitted. "I think we have always approached that in a cohesive way.

"Both drivers were always fully aware that we need to find solutions that, first of all, put the interests of the team and then the interests of the drivers.

"And so far, I think this has been a very positive process. It's a process that we plan to carry over onto next season. But before we think about this problem, we need to think.

"We call it problem, potentially it's more of an opportunity," the Italian maintained.

The McLaren team principal went on to say that the team's focus for 2025 is making sure the MCL38's successor starts the season as a contender.

He said: "Our focus is to make sure that, from a technical point of view, we give Lando and Oscar a car that is in condition to fight for the championship.

"Because had we done this at the start of this season, without having some underperformance in the early races of the season, then we would have been in condition to fight for the drivers' championship for longer," Stella concluded.

McLaren's 2024 constructors' title was their first since 1998 and the result of an ambitious project led by CEO Zak Brown, who took over the hot seat at Woking in the post-Ron Dennis era.