McLaren’s Rise Faster Than Ferrari’s Schumacher Era: Andrea Stella Makes a Bold Statement
McLaren is currently leading the constructors’ championship by a margin of 268 points, with both drivers — Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris — firmly in the race for the drivers’ title.
According to team principal Andrea Stella, McLaren’s recent rise in Formula 1 has been so swift and efficient that it might even surpass the dominance Ferrari enjoyed during the Michael Schumacher era.
Speaking on Friday ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Stella, who previously worked with Ferrari, expressed surprise at the pace and scale of McLaren’s turnaround.
The Italian, who had served as an engineer at Ferrari during Schumacher’s golden years in the early 2000s, now heads a McLaren team that is at the top of both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings in the 2025 season.
Stella, who joined McLaren in 2015 after over ten years at Ferrari, stated that making direct comparisons between different teams and eras is not straightforward, especially considering the distinct roles he held in each setup.
However, he acknowledged that the current pace of development at McLaren is remarkable.
“It is always challenging to compare across different seasons,” Stella noted. “In this case, we are also comparing different teams. Even I had a different role back then, so my perspective was also quite different.”
“But if I have to highlight a couple of aspects about what we are achieving here at McLaren, the speed at which we have progressed in the past two years is quite rare. In fact, it might even be faster than what we saw at Ferrari during those competitive years.”
During Schumacher’s reign from 2000 to 2004, Ferrari won five consecutive drivers’ championships and six constructors’ titles in a row. The 2004 season was especially dominant, with Ferrari winning 15 out of 18 races.
McLaren’s Dominance in the 2025 Season
In contrast to their recent performances, McLaren has made a stunning comeback to the top of the grid in 2025. After finishing fifth in 2022 and fourth in 2023, the team has claimed victory in 10 of the first 13 races this season. They now have a commanding 268-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ table.
Their driver pair — Oscar Piastri from Australia and Lando Norris from the UK — are engaged in a tight internal fight for the drivers’ championship. Piastri currently leads Norris by 16 points, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the defending world champion, is trailing by 81 points in third position.
Despite the comfortable advantage, Stella is not ready to rule Verstappen out of the championship battle.
“Definitely not,” Stella responded when asked whether Verstappen was out of the title race.
“I believe only in mathematics. So until the numbers confirm that, I won’t change my answer.”
