McLaren is one of the teams that have progressed the most since the start of last year, with most of its gains coming from mid-2023 upgrade packages that allowed it to finish the season in fourth place.
The Woking team started 2024 roughly where it finished, battling Mercedes for third, although Ferrari's massive race pace improvements are keeping the Scuderia out of reach.
Max Verstappen's rare retirement in Australia allowed Lando Norris to claim the team's first podium of the campaign, followed in fourth by team-mate Oscar Piastri.
McLaren's 2024 challenger, the MCL38, has carried over the main weaknesses of its predecessor, with the team aiming to introduce a first upgrade package around the Miami or Imola rounds in May.
But team principal Stella cautioned that fully addressing its weak spots, including long-corner performance and a lack of DRS efficiency, which hurts top speeds, will likely take another 12 months of development.
"We are extremely happy with the rate of development over the last 12 months, but there's, I would say, another 12 months' development that we need to go through to actually offer a car that is strong in DRS and is strong in the long corners," he explained.
Source: Autosport