[black]

No smoke without fire. Something fishy going on.

Whatever, if the VAG group do end up working with McLaren I really hope McLaren can remain independent. As Papaofgags says, much better to have a completely new works team than lose one of the indys.

[morini]

No smoke without fire. Something fishy going on.

Media seem to have gone very quiet on this one. I guess it will be up for discussion when the sky arsehpundits start spouting on Friday.

[forzaferrari]

McLaren Racing confirmed today that current IndyCar driver Colton Herta from the USA will test for the McLaren F1 Team as part of its 2021 MCL35M car testing programme in 2022.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/team/colt...la-1-2022/

[PapaofGags]

Race-winning U.S. IndyCar driver Colton Herta said he felt fast enough for Formula One after a 'fun' first test with McLaren at Portugal's Portimao circuit.

The 22-year-old Andretti Autosport driver, who stepped behind the wheel of last year's MCL35M car on Monday and Tuesday at the Algarve track, completed 162 laps and a total distance of 750km.

Asked in a video call with reporters whether he felt he could be competitive in the series, given more testing and the proper ramp-up, Herta answered in the affirmative.

"You can't say no to that question or else you wouldn't be a professional driver," he said. "Yeah, I do think I'm fast enough.

"Whether they agree or not, I guess time will tell. Hopefully I can get some more chances in the car and kind of show."

Herta, the youngest driver ever to win an IndyCar race, was a team mate of current McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris at Carlin in British Formula Four and Formula Three in 2015 and 2016.

Norris and Australian Daniel Ricciardo both have contracts with McLaren for next season, although the 33-year-old latter has been struggling to produce the form expected of an established race winner.

The American said he felt comfortable in the car and had tried to push it.

"It's hard to get in a race car and not drive it as fast as you possibly can," he said. "The goal was to get acclimated, get up to speed and really see what I could do in the race car. It was a lot of fun."

Herta could be given a Friday free practice session at a grand prix later in the year, with teams obliged to have an aspiring young driver in one of their cars on two occasions this season.

"We'll take it step by step," said McLaren boss Andreas Seidl.

"The team was quite impressed how Colton was dealing with all the challenges and with his professional approach and it was great to see as well that his physical preparation was enabling him to really keep going throughout the two days.

[PapaofGags]

McLaren has appointed Andrea Stella as its new team principal following Andreas Seidl's shock return to Sauber as the group's new CEO.

Following his appointment in May 2019, Seidl helped resurrect McLaren's fortunes, helping the team finish third in the constructors' championship in 2020.

But an opportunity to return to Hinwil, where he worked as head of track operation at Sauber for four years as part of BMW's F1 entry, has proved too enticing.

Seidl's exit has led to McLaren CEO Zak Brown appointing Stella with immediate effect, moving up from his role as executive director racing.

Stella has been a key member of McLaren since 2015, working as head of race operations, performance director, and since 2019 in his current role.

[morini]

McLaren has appointed Andrea Stella as its new team principal following Andreas Seidl's shock return to Sauber as the group's new CEO.

Yeah, I just read about this https://the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-r...-lead-audi

Andrea Stella

Good name! I hope he's the full fat version and not the watered down pisswater.

[forzaferrari]

   

[forzaferrari]

McLaren Racing today announces the appointment of Rob Marshall as Technical Director, Engineering & Design within its Formula 1 team. Rob will join the team on 1 January 2024.

Rob joins McLaren after 17 years with Red Bull Racing

[PapaofGags]

McLaren will change almost “every single aerodynamic part” on its Formula 1 car over the next three races in a move the team is “banking on” to transform its season.

Stella reckons that nearly every aerodynamic surface will be overhauled again as part of a quickfire three-stage update arriving over the Austria, British and Hungarian Grand Prix weekends.

It is expected that approximately half of the overall update will arrive for the coming Red Bull Ring round while the rest will be split between Silverstone and Budapest.

Stella said: “Most of the upgrades we will see over the course of the following events - so there will be a major overhaul of the car that will be delivered across Austria, UK and Hungary.”

Stella explained that the aggressive development path being pursued reflected a need for a “fundamental” redesign of the car that was identified after the early races of the campaign.

He continued: “At the start of the season, we realised that the car needed a fundamental redesign, so this redesign is actually interesting.

“I would say pretty much every single aerodynamic part [will change] - that's why the upgrades will be spread over the course of a few races. It will be decently noticeable.

“We had to redesign even some parts under the bodywork. That's also why it took some time to be in condition to deliver these upgrades. I would say pretty much the entire car.”

[forzaferrari]

Oscar Piastri has signed a contract extension with McLaren, keeping him with the team until at least 2026