McLaren’s Championship Catastrophe: Andrea Stella’s Nightmare Scenario Looms
What on earth is McLaren thinking? The shocking spectacle of both McLaren Formula 1 drivers casually gliding past the pit entry behind the safety car left fans and analysts alike gasping in disbelief. “What is McLaren doing?” I exclaimed in our internal editorial chat, followed by a fervent “WTF.” Hindsight may be 20/20, but it’s clear that this baffling strategy not only handed Max Verstappen a lifeline at the Qatar Grand Prix but also thrust the title race into a dramatic showdown in Abu Dhabi.
McLaren’s miscalculation is on the verge of becoming one of the biggest blunders in F1 history. Just three months ago, Verstappen was trailing championship leader Oscar Piastri by a staggering 104 points—a gap equivalent to over four race wins. The odds of the Dutchman claiming a fifth consecutive title seemed almost nonexistent. Yet here we are, on the brink of the Abu Dhabi finale, with Verstappen now just 12 points behind Lando Norris. This scenario, from McLaren’s perspective, should have never even been a remote possibility.
As the season finale approaches, McLaren’s team principal Andrea Stella must be bracing for sleepless nights. Yes, Verstappen still needs a misstep from Norris to claim the title, but Stella knows all too well the pain of losing a championship at the last moment. Back in 2010, as Fernando Alonso’s race engineer, Stella watched helplessly as Alonso’s title ambitions evaporated behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, paving the way for Sebastian Vettel to snatch victory—and glory—with Red Bull. Stella himself called that day the “most painful” of his career. Now, 15 years later, could he be on the brink of another heart-wrenching defeat?
From McLaren’s viewpoint, this ominous feeling of déjà vu is entirely unwarranted. Verstappen’s assertion in Qatar that he would already be world champion if Red Bull had matched McLaren’s pace in the early season rings alarmingly true. The litany of errors committed by the team this year—let alone the drivers—cannot be ignored. A staggering 50 points have slipped through McLaren’s fingers due to their own blunders. Norris lost 10 points after crashing in Canada, a further 18 for retiring from P2 in Zandvoort with engine failure, and another 18 lost due to disqualification in Las Vegas. The strategy disaster in Qatar cost at least 3 additional points, adding up to a shocking total of 49 points thrown away, not even counting a slew of smaller mishaps.
Piastri’s situation is no better, echoing Verstappen’s criticism of McLaren’s performance. Mistakes are inherent in motorsport, and no team can emerge unscathed after a grueling 30-race season. However, McLaren’s error rate this year is alarmingly high—especially for a squad with championship aspirations. The ongoing debate about the so-called “papaya rules” only adds fuel to the fire, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Stella, once the face of McLaren’s resurgence after their first constructors’ title in 26 years in 2024, now finds himself teetering on the edge of despair. The prospect of losing another championship is looming, and this time the stakes are higher than ever. Unlike his previous role as a race engineer, he is now at the forefront, potentially becoming the symbol of an even greater failure than the one he faced in 2010.
Yet, as fate would have it, the tides could shift dramatically next week. Should McLaren emerge victorious and crown a new world champion, Stella might finally be able to exorcise the demons of Abu Dhabi once and for all.
In a surprising twist, I had initially planned to focus on other narratives this week—like Alexander Albon’s fall from grace at Williams or the astonishing rise of rookie Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli. Yet here we are, once again drawn to McLaren’s tumultuous journey, as the world awaits the next jaw-dropping moment in Abu Dhabi. Will they rise from the ashes or sink into the depths of despair? Only time will tell.
