Replacing Ricciardo
McLaren has recently replaced their long-time driver Daniel Ricciardo with the young and talented Oscar Piastri. Although Ricciardo had the experience of scoring 8 grand prix victories, McLaren are confident that the 2023 car can be honed with Lando Norris as a reference.
“I think the important point is to have continuity with Lando,” said Andrea Stella, “he keeps the kind of reference, and it’s a reference we know very well because we’ve gone through its development together.”
“It will become a frame of reference for Oscar as well,” he continued, “in terms of not only his performance but understanding the car.”
Modern F1 relies heavily on data
Stella went on to explain how modern Formula 1 relies heavily on data when it comes to development. He emphasised that drivers still play an important role in this process.
“We want to improve some things and drivers are certainly important in relation to that,” he said. “Even though F1 relies a lot on numbers, you pretty much get a very good idea from them regarding competitiveness.”
“With drivers you deal with subtleties; that final percentage of performance – so I wouldn’t be too scared,” Stella concluded.</
