The unspoken major factor behind McLaren’s 2024 F1 title win

“Wow” – was initially all McLaren workforce boss Andrea Stella may muster when Motorsport.com raised the topic of his squad’s bulletproof reliability in Formulation 1 2024 forward of the Abu Dhabi finale.

A self-discipline as scientific as motorsport does not likely go away room for superstition, however the timing of our dialogue was advanced and so Stella’s temporary incredulity was comprehensible. To be clear, Andrea, we weren’t making an attempt to curse you…

Final Saturday, with McLaren having secured the entrance two spots on the grid for the race ultimately gained by Lando Norris – and with constructors’ championship rival Ferrari having one in every of its automobiles beginning down in nineteenth due to Charles Leclerc’s varied misfortunes within the Abu Dhabi occasion’s opening two days – the papaya workforce was heavy favorite to wrap up this 12 months’s groups’ prize.

Stella was proper to be cautious. Not solely had McLaren seen Norris slip from a probably successful place to nowhere in Qatar per week earlier as a result of Briton’s principal race double yellow flag gaffe, however the subsequent Yas Marina Flip 1 contact between Oscar Piastri within the different MCL38 and Max Verstappen highlighted how precarious its place remained till the race ended.

Certainly, with Leclerc rising from nineteenth to eighth on the chaotic opening lap, if Norris fell behind chaser Carlos Sainz within the lead Ferrari over the remainder of the occasion, the 14-point swing would have been sufficient for the Scuderia to steal the constructors’ title.

Additionally at play was how, at this stage, Piastri’s restoration to a degree with tenth was not a given.

However in attending to the end as its drivers did, McLaren capped its first F1 groups’ title in 26 years with a outstanding document in a single crucial space.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos

This was how, of all of the front-running 4 groups, it didn’t have a single reliability drama that value it factors in 2024.

At Purple Bull, Verstappen retired in Australia along with his brake hearth and misplaced a possible Spa win because of his engine power restoration system subject again in Montreal observe, that means he needed to undergo a grid penalty.

Additionally in Canada, Ferrari misplaced Leclerc to an influence unit downside, whereas at Mercedes engine drama compelled DNFs for Lewis Hamilton in Australia and George Russell at Silverstone.

Certainly, McLaren solely failed to attain factors on two events this 12 months – when Piastri was within the wars with Sainz in Miami and when Norris got here off far worse from that crash with Verstappen in Austria.

Technically, as he stopped within the pits seven laps from the end, Norris was categorized on the Purple Bull Ring – in the end making certain a zero DNF document for the constructors’ champion in a 12 months the place Piastri adopted Michael Schumacher in 2002, Lewis Hamilton in 2019 and Max Verstappen final 12 months in finishing each single racing lap.

Norris barely squeaked over the 90% race distance threshold required to be categorized in Austria, as he had accomplished 90.1% of the occasion when he stopped along with his MCL38 too broken to proceed after the contact with Verstappen on lap 64.

Stella did – charmingly and in-depth as ever – in the end reply to our enquiry on simply how McLaren had maintained such glorious reliability in 2024.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Photos

His reply recalled his earlier profession expertise working as a efficiency and race engineer at Ferrari, which raised the usual on F1 reliability throughout its run of 5 world title doubles with Schumacher throughout this era within the early 2000s.

“We’re within the place we’re when it comes to the constructor championship, not solely as a result of we’ve got been capable of realise a automotive that, on common, was aggressive in most circuits, we’ve got [also] had the drivers which have used this automotive, typically, to one of the best of its potential,” Stella mentioned.

“However positively from an operational viewpoint and a reliability viewpoint the workforce to this point have been capable of obtain requirements that in my profession in Formulation 1, they make me consider my early 2000s years at Ferrari, the place reliability was type of a faith and the requirements have been very excessive.

“In each Formulation 1 workforce, you do not obtain these ends in an unstructured approach.

“That is the results of having invested on this space – operations and reliability – invested cash, invested [in] individuals, [and] modified the organisation in relation to how we cope with the reliability and in addition the tradition.

“With this query, you give me the likelihood to make an appraisal of the work and the standard of the work that has occurred on this space.

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“However what I say once I discuss reliability in our workforce debrief is that I feel it is the worst job in Formulation 1.

“Since you are at all times nearly as good as yesterday. There is not any credit score gathered – as a result of each new session, each new race, can provide a scenario, an issue.

“So, the one factor you are able to do is simply keep tremendous centered, tremendous proactive, and see the place the subsequent downside will likely be coming from.”