McLaren turnaround built on 'fundamental enabler' - Stella

McLaren boss Andrea Stella believes McLaren's major technicalrestructuring in 2023 was a "fundamental enabler" of its turnaroundin Formula 1 fortunes. After a slow start with the MCL60, it wasannounced in March that technical director James Key was to leavethe team, with a new structure of three technical directors takinghis place. Peter Prodromou was already at the team, with the teamannouncing the signings of David Sanchez and Rob Marshall fromFerrari and Red Bull, respectively to lead the other departments.This trio report to Team Principal Stella, who in turn reports toMcLaren CEO Zak Brown. After the restructure was announced, McLarenturned its season around, with two big upgrade packages inAustria/Britain and Singapore propelling the car to second fastestbehind Red Bull. However, due to its slow start, the team wasunable to challenge Mercedes or Ferrari for second in thestandings, but ended 2023 on a strong footing in fourth. Off-track,the heavily-upgraded wind-tunnel at the McLaren Technology Centreis operational, with a new driver simulator also coming on line -but Stella puts the turnaround in on-track performance to thetechnical reshuffle. "The technical restructuring was a fundamentalenabler, I would say," Stella told media including RacingNews365."The restructure itself, if you think that it includes people whohaven't actually started yet, as in in the new technicalconfiguration, which includes three technical directors, two ofthem haven't started yet. "We have Peter Prodromou in charge ofaero, David Sanchez in charge of performance and concept and RobMarshall in charge of engineering and design. "Effectively, thisstructure has given clarity on the responsibilities and has allowedus, which was essential in the short term, to restructure theaerodynamic department, putting Peter Prodromou in charge, assistedby Giuseppe Pesce and these guys have been absolutely instrumentalin setting the new direction for the design of the car from anaerodynamic point of view. "This has been the enabler to unleashthe talent that was already available at McLaren by giving a cleardirection, making clear objectives and trying to make sure thatempowerment and enthusiasm is the foundation of how he deal withpeople. "This has been instrumental and I've always reiterated thesame concepts when it comes to how the turnaround has beenpossible, and we are trying to get into the future, and in additionto that, we have Rob Marshall and David Sanchez starting inJanuary."