Andrea Stella

Andrea Stella is an Italian motorsports engineer and the Team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team in the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship.

Andrea Stella was born on February 22, 1971, in Orvieto - located halfway between Florence and Rome, Italy. Stella graduated in Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome and holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering.

Beginning his career in Scuderia Ferrari, Andrea Stella worked as a Performance Engineer in the test team in the beginning. However, in 2002, he was promoted to the race team’s Michael Schumacher’s side of the garage.

Stella contributed to one of the most successful periods of the Scuderia Ferrari, winning three championships in five years with the team. He remained in his role when Kimi Raikkonen joined the team and later won the World Driver’s Championship in 2007.

Andrea Stella became a Race engineer for Raikkonen in 2009, and one year later, he became the race engineer to the two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso, with whom he became very close friends during the next five years of working together.

He accompanied the Spanish driver through seasons like 2010 and 2012, during which Fernando Alonso finished as a runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship. The first time, they missed the title by 4 points, and the second time, they missed the title by a mere 3 points to Sebastian Vettel driving for Red Bull.

He then followed Fernando Alonso to McLaren in 2015, where he became Head of Race Operations (a promotion from Race Engineer). During the next three years, his work included Strategy Development, Team Coordination, and Performance Review, amongst other things.

Andrea Stella was then promoted to Performance Director in 2018 and, more notably, Executive Director, in 2019. He is praised for his detail orientation while also being able to see the bigger picture - just like McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

After the separation of Andres Seidl from McLaren after the 2022 season, Andrea Stella was announced to take on his role as the new team principal at McLaren Formula One Team. The team made significant progress during the 2023 season, scoring multiple podiums with their drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.