Following the 2026 F1 British GP, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella reflected on the weekend. Sunday’s race at Silverstone produced mixed results for McLaren, Lando Norris was able to score a good haul of points, finishing in P4. However, after suffering damage on the first lap of the race, Oscar Piastri was unable to finish in the points, just missing out in P11.
Andrea Stella discusses McLarens’ performance at the 2026 F1 British GP
During a print media session after the British GP, Stella summed up the race and the performance of the MCL40. The McLaren Team Principal admitted that the team “still exhibit a decent gap to Ferrari and Mercedes.” The results follow suit with their qualifying performance where they lacked pace, Norris qualified P6, while Piastri was P8.
During the 2026 F1 British GP, Lando Norris was stuck behind Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar for a majority of the race. After extending his first stint to create a tyre offset, Norris eventually passed the Frenchman. With 5 laps left, Verstappen crashed out of the British GP with a potential rear wing faliure and Norris was able to secure P4.
“Yeah, so overall the race confirmed that our performance today was in line with qualifying.
“So, we still exhibit a decent gap to Ferrari and Mercedes. Probably around half a second. I think the pace with Red Bull was closer, I would say. Lando was spending a lot of time behind Hadjar, which was a bit of a shame.
“Otherwise, I think he could have been closer to the leaders. But definitely there’s work to do, and I think this is in the measure of half a second. On Lando’s side, we took advantage of accidents that happened to other people.
“I think actually the strategy was working very well. Lando did a good job of being able to drive the car with old tyres. And he kept going at a decent pace. This put us in a strong position for the second stint with fresher tyres.
“And he was getting closer and closer to the guys that were fighting at the front with Verstappen, blocking Hamilton and Russell. P4, I think, is an overachievement. Not on our own merit, it’s more because other people had trouble.”
Andrea Stella on the difficulties Piastri faced at Silverstone
Oscar Piastri suffered a tough Qualifying session on Saturday with a lack of grip and balance issues. It resulted in the 25-year-old starting Sundays race in P5.
Oscar Piastri’s race was comprimised on the first lap after suffering front wing damage. The Australian pitted on lap 2 of the 2026 F1 British GP, Stella stated that the wait to pit was due to a lack of coverage from the incident. This meant that they were unable to properly assess the damage.
Piastri exhibited decent pace following his pit stop. However, he was unable to push the McLaren into the points.
Following the British GP, Andrea Stella spoke on the incident and Piastri’s performance during the rest of the race.
“On Oscar’s side, he got sandwiched by the two Racing Bulls. I’m not sure if this was clear, because actually we didn’t have coverage. And it was difficult for us to assess what kind of damage.
“From the data, it looked like there was damage on the front wing, but it looked like in the end plate area. So, we stayed out one more lap, and the wing actually failed. So, we lost time, we needed to pit.
“Oscar was running at the back. He was showing, I think, a decent pace there. But with proper safety cars, it was always going to be difficult for Oscar to score points.
Andrea Stella admits the team need to work to improve the MCL40
Following the British GP, Lando Norris described the car as “one of the hardest cars I’ve ever driven in Formula One.” Despite the Brit crossing the line in P4, the result did not reflect the performance of the car.
Following the 2026 F1 British GP, Stella admitted that there is still a lot of work to be done. With two races left until the summer break, the team will be looking to produce better results to end the first half of the season.
“So, a decent amount of points, considering our level of competitiveness. A shame that Oscar didn’t add to these points at all. But overall, we go away from Silverstone aware that there’s quite a bit of work to do.”
