New McLaren Team Principal, Andrea Stella, tried to managed the expectations from the team after the launch of its 2023 Formula 1 car, the MCL60, insisting they remain realistic.
Andrea Stella took over the leadership of the McLaren F1 Team from Andreas Seidl - who jumped ship to Alfa Romeo - and will be leading the team in a special year, the 60th anniversary of the team, celebrated by the name of their 2023 challenger, the MCL60.
McLaren launched their MCL60 in an event at their Woking headquarters on Monday, and Stella didn't neglect to give credit for his team for what he labeled a "a key milestone", insisting that there is "so much going on behind a Formula 1 car".
McLaren had an underwhelming 2022 F1 season, and while they seemed to be in a good place during testing that year, they dropped back and ended up losing fourth in the Constructors' Standings to Alpine.
The challenge is to move forward
Looking ahead to the challenges on his first season as an F1 boss; Stella said: "The challenge [in 2023] is to keep improving as a team [and] move up towards the front of the grid.
"We can do it if we deliver the projects from an infrastructural point of view. We strengthened the team, and we also elevate the standards, as we say internally, and we get focused on performance," he explained.
Stella remains cautious as what to expect from the team new car; he said: "In terms of performance expectations, we remain realistic for the short-term.
"We will see where we are in Bahrain at the test and at the first race. Independently of that, we have good developments in the pipeline, so we remain optimistic for the season ahead," the Italian maintained.
Like all the other nine F1 teams, McLaren will now be packing for Bahrain for the only three-day preseason test that will be held between February 23 and 25.
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