McLaren F1 Boss Breaks Silence on Ferrari Move Speculation For “Astronomical Salary”

McLaren Racing team principal Andrea Stella has opened up about rumors of his potential move to Ferrari in the future for an “astronomical” salary. The speculation was strengthened further after Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, announced his 2028 move to McLaren.

This comes less than two years after Lambiase became the head of racing at Red Bull during an internal restructuring in 2024. MotorBiscuit recently reported that Lambiase’s future move sparked rumors about a potential change in McLaren’s leadership structure, and Stella moving back to Ferrari.

Stella worked with Ferrari in the past for 15 years as a performance engineer for Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen, before becoming a race engineer for Räikkönen and then for Fernando Alonso. In 2015, Stella joined McLaren as head of race operations, and was promoted to the role of team principal in December 2022.

F1 reporter Jacky Martens had stated that Stella has already “signed a pre-contract with Ferrari” for a team principal role. Other reports stated Stella had signed a deal with Ferrari for a huge salary, and that Lambiase would replace Stella as team principal at McLaren.

Read More from MotorBiscuit:

• Kim Kardashian Shows Strong Support for Lewis Hamilton With Viral Ferrari T-Shirt
• Ferrari F1 Chief Warns Of a Potential Grid Reset In Miami: “It Will Probably Be Another Championship”
• McLaren Insider Admits F1 Will Fail If Max Verstappen Quits

andrea stella

However, Stella has now come forward by dismissing the rumors, revealing that they made him smile. reported his statement: