The reigning Constructors’ Champions, McLaren, have endured a difficult start to the 2026 F1 season, with both drivers struggling amid a lack of competitiveness. The Woking-based team currently sit 3rd in the Constructors’ Standings with 49 points, 89 points behind current leaders Mercedes F1, who have delivered a dominant run of performances so far this year.
While only Lando Norris completed all racing laps at the season opener, Shanghai proved even tougher as McLaren suffered a double DNS. However, at the 2026 F1 Japanese GP, Oscar Piastri’s podium finish offered the team a promising sign that stronger results could be on the horizon.
Team Principal Andrea Stella spoke in a media session at the team’s base on Wednesday, outlining how the team decided to approach the 2026 F1 season and discussing the major upgrade package set to debut in Miami next weekend.
McLaren and Stella embrace the challenge
When asked whether the team would have preferred to build on their 2025 trajectory rather than adapt to a set of new regulations, Stella said: “First of all, I would like to emphasise that we were reflecting internally on this. On the fact that we take quite a bit of pride internally at McLaren that we managed to turn things around in a continuity of regulations.”
Since Stella has taken charge, McLaren have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in performance. After rising from the back of the field to the front in 2023, Stella explained that despite their recent success, the team chose to embrace the challenge of the new regulations and push their boundaries further.
“So we had kind of less know-how, we needed to generate IP, we needed to generate the solutions to gain a performance and competitive advantage and since 2023 we managed to do it. And this was something that we definitely wanted to crystallise in terms of our own achievement and consolidate the success that we’ve been able to produce.
“At the same time, while for sure we would have liked to continue with the same regulations because we were starting from a competitive position, we sort of wanted to test ourselves.”
“It is actually a challenge that we welcome” — Stella on the 2026 F1 regulations
He further explained that the regulation change serves as a valuable test of the team’s maturity and ability to develop new knowledge, describing it as a challenge that they have taken on. Stella added that while the start of the 2026 F1 season has made the evaluation more revealing, they continue to embrace the process.
“We wanted to test our level of maturity, our level of ability to generate new know-how when there’s a change, a reset of the regulations. So while slightly uncomfortable, it is actually a challenge that we welcome. It’s a challenge that will give us a measure of where we are effectively as a team.
“And I have to say that even some of the challenges that we started with in terms of the start of the season with a little bit of a mixed bag kind of make the overall test even more probing but even more interesting. So we are enjoying it. We are enjoying it.”
While focus remains on returning to the front, Stella said McLaren have identified encouraging progress in the development of the MCL40 and its package, which will be introduced in phases.
Stella added: “We look forward to show on track what we’ve been able to produce in the ground over this month, especially the last couple of months. I think they’ve been quite positive in terms of development of the car in the ground. Hopefully we will see this in Miami, Canada and the following races in terms of development.
“So a challenge that we overall welcome and a test to show what we’ve been able to achieve in terms of maturity of the team.”
MCL40’s new aerodynamic package
“In our intent, there was always the idea to deliver a completely new car, especially from an aerodynamic upgrades point of view for the North American races. So we could keep up with this plan,” Stella said.
The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs has given teams valuable time to analyse their learnings from the first three races. While McLaren are set to introduce a major upgrade package, Stella expects rival teams to do the same and does not anticipate a significant change in the current pecking order.
“Obviously, the fact that the calendar has been changed, sort of helped a little bit, like I’m sure helped all the other teams that could work more streamlined towards upgrading the car, rather than being busy with racing.
“But I could say overall that across Miami and Canada, we will see an entirely new MCL40. Again, I would like to stress that this is what I would expect of most of our competitors. So not necessarily is going to be a shift in the pecking order, it will be effectively just a check who has been able to add more performance within the same time frame.”
Building on Suzuka’s encouraging results
He acknowledged that there is still performance to recover compared to Mercedes and less to Ferrari, but experessed confidence in the progress they’ve managed to make behind the scenes. Aiming to build on their encouraging showing in Japan, Stella added that the upgrades should deliver a more competitive MCL40 in Miami and Montreal.
Stella continued: “And we also have some performance to recover, if we look at Mercedes and to some extent Ferrari as well. But we are quite happy with the development that we’ve been able to manage, like I said before, in background.
“So hopefully, we should be able to see a slightly more competitive MCL40 in Miami and then in Canada, considering that the last race was already a decent competitive performance in Japan, so we definitely look forward to the next races.”
