Stella: We hope the Japanese weekend goes well.

      McLaren's performance at the start of the season is not going well, and at the press conference in Suzuka, Andrea Stella, the team principal, tried to explain what this is related to.

      Question: Can we go back to what happened in China, where your team had serious reasons for frustration? Were you able to figure out the cause of the problems that arose before the start of the Sunday race?

      Andrea Stella: Yes, things did not go well in China, that's for sure. None of our cars were able to participate in the Grand Prix, and such situations are exceptional. We understand the cause of the problem; in both cases, they were related to the electrical part of the power unit. The batteries failed, but the malfunctions were different, although they occurred at the same moment, which is very rare.

      We investigated what happened together with the Mercedes engine specialists, and I think we figured everything out. As I said, the malfunctions were of different kinds, and while we managed to fix the battery on Oscar's car, Lando had to install a new battery on the MCL40.

      Question: The season is just beginning – are you worried that the problem might recur in Japan?

      Andrea Stella: No. We fully trust the specialists at HPP (Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains); they have taken the necessary measures to prevent the problem from recurring. However, it is possible that failures in hybrid systems can occur with any other team.

      Overall, of course, we hope that the Japanese weekend will go smoothly, as we lost the opportunity to race in China, but Oscar also went off the track in Australia on his way to the starting grid. So far, he hasn't completed a single lap in Sunday races, and we certainly want to turn this trend around.

      Question: To what extent does such a start to the season affect Oscar?

      Andrea Stella: The technical regulations have completely changed, the nature of the races has become different, and now the driver needs to be able to cope with the lack of electrical energy, which plays a crucial role during accelerations. There is a lot to learn, so every lap during the weekend is important, and learning must primarily happen during the races. In this regard, Oscar is not in the most favorable position yet, although a lot can be learned through studying the telemetry of his teammate.

      Even in China, where I was following the events on the Grand Prix track together with Oscar and Lando, we commented on things together and learned together. Moreover, our drivers are collaborating more actively this season than before and are sharing all information with each other.

      Question: How do you assess the potential of the MCL40?

      Andrea Stella: I think the potential is very high, although at the moment our car lacks grip compared to Mercedes and Ferrari, which are faster in corners. I believe that compared to Mercedes, we are probably not fully utilizing the potential of the power unit.

      In this regard, we are learning quickly, which is a positive aspect, and we are working very productively with HPP to learn how to fully unlock the potential of the power unit. When it comes to the chassis, we definitely know what needs to be done to achieve improvements. It's about quickly implementing technical innovations that will enhance aerodynamic efficiency.

      This will happen in the next two races of the season, and I think that after that, the team should be able to move forward on the right trajectory. We are confident that McLaren will still be fighting for podiums and victories this season.

      Question: As can be seen from the results of the practices, you are gradually closing the gap to the leaders, but how much time will it take before the team learns to fully utilize the potential of the power unit and reaches the level of Mercedes?

      Andrea Stella: The practices in Suzuka indeed went according to our expectations, and when it comes to power units, the gap to Mercedes will decrease with each race. I must say that we also need to learn to extract more from our chassis, as we are losing too much in the first sector of the track compared to Ferrari and Mercedes.