McLaren boss Stella admits team on back foot for 2026 F1 season

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has acknowledged his team is starting the 2026 Formula 1 season from a slightly defensive position, suggesting Ferrari and Mercedes appear a step ahead following pre-season testing. While satisfied with their own testing program and reliability, Stella framed the early season as a period for McLaren to understand its new car and power unit before mounting a development counterattack to close the gap to the works teams.

Why it matters:

McLaren enters 2026 as the defending double world champion, but a complete technical regulation overhaul has reset the competitive order, rendering its recent dominance largely irrelevant. Stella's candid assessment highlights the immediate challenge faced by customer teams like McLaren against the manufacturer squads of Ferrari and Mercedes, who may have leveraged their integrated power unit and chassis development to gain an early advantage. The season's narrative will now focus on whether McLaren's development rate can overcome this perceived initial deficit.

The details:

• Stella explicitly placed Ferrari and Mercedes in a leading group, stating they are "a step ahead" after analyzing data from tests in Barcelona and Bahrain, though the exact gap remains unquantified until racing begins in Melbourne.
• He linked this advantage directly to their status as works teams, implying the benefit of seamless power unit and chassis synergy under the new rules.
• Despite this, McLaren's testing was largely positive: the team completed over 1,000 laps across nine days, fulfilling its entire program and making progress on reliability.
• The team gathered crucial data on the behavior of the new MCL40 chassis and its Mercedes-supplied power unit, as well as the latest generation of Pirelli tires.
• Stella used a football metaphor to describe the strategy: "the first part of the season will see us playing a bit defensively, trying to exploit the counterattack."

What's next:

The true competitive picture will be revealed at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. For McLaren, the focus shifts immediately to in-season development. Stella emphasized that once the "cards are on the table," development speed becomes the primary challenge. The team's ability to rapidly understand and upgrade its package will determine if it can transition from a defensive posture to a title-contending one as the 2026 season progresses.