F1 News: McLaren Warns Staff Of Rivals' Attempts To Divide Team After Championship Victory

Saajan Jogia | Dec 11, 2024

Andrea Stella, Oscar Piastri, Zak Brown, and Lando Norris / McLaren Press Image

Amid McLaren's huge success this season, where it secured six Grand Prix victories and claimed the Constructors' Championship, team principal Andrea Stella has warned his staff about rival teams trying to take advantage of the situation and create a divide in the team through "poison biscuits." He hinted that the team was on an upward trajectory and rival teams would try their best to hinder the team's progress.

The Papaya outfit secured its first championship win after 26 years, its last triumph going back all the way to 1998. The battle for the top spot between Ferrari and McLaren went on to the last lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and Lando Norris' victory in the race helped his team win the title by a narrow margin of 14 points.

McLaren found the key to extracting performance out of its ground effect car this season, which provides a concrete foundation for the 2025 car. Stella encouraged his team not to fall for offers and traps from its competitors, as "poison biscuits" are bound to be dropped by competitors. He said:

"Refusing the poison biscuits is one of the fundamental elements of checking and validating that the culture that we have created is not only words but exists in real life.

"We will always have poison biscuits dropped in our camp. We will always have poison biscuits dropped and with an attempt to create division, to break the cohesion that we have in the team.

"But we talk every day that we are not going to pick the poison biscuits. It would be very naive, it would be very arrogant to think that because we have achieved something now, now we are perfect, now we can relax, now we can think that everything is due just because we are world champions.

"There's nothing new; I think the best philosophy is that you start like if you had lost and that's what we're going to do in preparation for next season."

Stella also revealed the importance of team CEO Zak Brown's support, who helped unlock the team's potential that led to its success this season. He added:

"The unlocking of the potential of the people, first of all, is not only my contribution, it's the contribution of the management and this is extremely important because you cannot do anything if you are a one-man show.

"Even if you are team principal, you need the support of your CEO, you need the support of the chairman, you need the support of the shareholders -- that we need to get aligned, otherwise you don't create a culture.

"Zak walks the factory with me very, very often and we have several conversations. Ultimately is the accumulation of these numerous conversations that change the culture, build the trust in an organisation."