Andrea Stella says Mercedes still is the faster car overall despite inroads made by McLaren in 2026 F1 Miami GP.
After only one result of second place from the first three races, McLaren turned the tide in 2026 F1 Miami GP after 1-2 finish in the sprint race on Saturday, followed by second and third on Sunday. Lando Norris won the sprint and finished second, while Oscar Piastri was second and third.
It pushed McLaren up the order in the constructors’ standings with 94 points, just 16 shy of Ferrari and 86 of Mercedes. But in the larger context, the improved performance of the Woking-based outfit was the talking point all-through the F1 Miami GP weekend.
Stella points out at McLaren’s step made
Team boss Stella related the step made to execution, optimisation and adaption. He feels that Mercedes has couple of tenths advantage over the field which was noticeable in both the sprint and the main race. The Italian reckons the German outfit didn’t express full potential in the sprint race to be behind.
“I think because of the upgrades that a large number of teams have delivered here in Miami, we have seen some changes to the competitive picture,” said Stella in a print media session after the 2026 F1 Miami GP. “Definitely we have seen McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull closing the gap.
“I think over a single lap, execution is important. We saw McLaren prevailing in the sprint quali, but kind of the same car was before on the grid in the quali. And I think this has to do, very much with execution, optimisation and adaptation. I think Mercedes, they still possess a couple of tenths advantage on anybody else.
“I think this was the most noticeable in the race and sprint. In the first sprint section of the weekend, for some reason Mercedes didn’t express their full potential. And it looked like the other people made bigger than expected upgrades. But in reality I think it was just Mercedes not optimising their potential,” summed up Stella.
Mercedes remains the faster car
The McLaren F1 team chief stressed that Mercedes remains the faster car and in their assessment, they are quicker in the high speed corners like Turn 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 in 2026 F1 Miami GP. Stella noted Andrea Kimi Antonelli closed in, in the first stint, and managed to create a gap in the last.
“So, I think there’s a few indications of a different nature, but all kind of quantitative that tell that Mercedes is a faster car,” continued Stella. “I think qualifying yesterday (Saturday), we saw that Mercedes don’t have any problem with deployment like they had in the sprint qualifying.
“And in average, if we see the behaviour of the car in the corners, they are faster than us. The corners in which they are mainly faster than us are the high speed corners. So in the section 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, they gained quite a bit on the McLaren.
“And then today in the race, if we look at the end of the first stint, and then the end of the last stint, Antonelli in the first closes the gap, and in the last opens the gap. So I think all these factors indicate that Mercedes is a faster car. When we were slower, our execution was perfect, like in the sprint qualifying, and their execution was a few tenths of their potential,” summed up Stella.
