McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has stated it is “good news” for his team if rival squads continue to make allegations over the legality of the MCL39 car.
The Woking-based squad has enjoyed a strong start to the current campaign, winning five times in six races.
However, its rise to the forefront of the F1 pecking order has come with scrutiny from rival squads, who have raised questions over where its pace is coming from.
Allegations have included flexing wings and the use of water to cool its tyres, but it has always been cleared of wrongdoing by the FIA.
Stella outlined his hope that the accusations continue into the future to ensure McLaren's rivals keep focusing on the “wrong things”.
“For us, it’s good news when our rivals get their focus – rather than on themselves – onto some of the aspects that allegedly are present in our car, and that effectively are not even present,” Stella told RacingNews365.
“And certainly, even if they were – let’s say, flexi-wings like a front wing deflection, like everyone else – it has nothing to do with the reason why McLaren is very competitive.
“So, I hope that in the future there will be more of these kinds of sagas because it means that our rivals keep focusing on the wrong things, and this is, for us, just good news.
“It’s just helping our quest.”
Andrea Stella refutes 2004 Ferrari comparison
The pace of the MCL39 is not the first time Stella has been part of the set-up of a dominant challenger, as the Italian worked for Ferrari in the early 2000s.
Ferrari's final truly unchallenged year came in 2004, with Michael Schumacher cruising to his final F1 title.
When asked if he sees similarities between the situations at Ferrari in 2004 and McLaren this year, Stella replied: “That car [in 2004] won 12 of the first 13 races with Michael, and the only one we lost was because Michael crashed with Montoya under the tunnel in Monaco, while Montoya was actually one lap down during a safety car.
“Otherwise, likely we would have won 13 out of 13. That’s a reference that I actually often use even to motivate myself – like, that’s where we want to be.
“But I don’t think this will happen this year. So, there is hard work ahead of us to make sure this happens in the years to come.
“I think we are a few steps behind compared to those kinds of references.”
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