Andreas Seidl has left his role as McLaren Team Principal with Andrea Stella taking his place with immediate effect.
According to reports, Seidl will occupy the vacant seat at Alfa Romeo following Frederic Vasseur’s departure.
Vasseur will move to Scuderia Ferrari to take over the vacancy left by Mattia Binotto who will leave Maranello at the end of 2022.
Seidl’s exit from McLaren will make him the fourth team principal to leave an F1 team since the end of the 2022 season, after Binotto, Jost Capito and Vasseur.
“McLaren Racing announces that Andrea Stella will move from Executive Director, Racing to F1 Team Principal with immediate effect. Andreas Seidl will leave the team and then move on to another challenge,” a statement read on the team website.
Seidl joined McLaren in 2019 and under his watch, the Woking-based team finished third in the Constructor’s Championship in 2020, their best finish since 2012. The team also won a race for the first time in nine years when Daniel Ricciardo coasted to victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, the race ending with a McLaren 1-2.
Stella has been part of McLaren since 2015 – first as Head of Race Operations and Performance Director and he became Executive Director of Racing in 2019. He previously spent 15 years at Ferrari, working as Performance Engineer for Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen as well as Race Engineer for Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown praised Stella for his leadership, describing his role as a sign of the strong depth in the Woking factory.
“Andrea is a highly talented, experienced and respected member of our team with a strong track record of leadership and success in Formula 1,” Brown said.
“His move into this role is a great example of the strength in depth we have in our team, and I’m excited to be working more closely with him with a joint focus on moving up the grid and winning races.”
In the 2022 season, McLaren finished fifth in the Constructor’s Championship, losing fourth spot to Alpine after a double retirement at the penultimate race of the season, the Sao Paolo Grand Prix.
