Ahead of the 2026 F1 Belgian GP, McLaren’s Team Principal Andrea Stella admitted that they expect to struggle with energy deployment at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
McLaren has been struggling with their power unit for the majority of the season. At the 2026 F1 British GP, drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had lamented their struggles.
Stella shared his insights on how the track layout of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps will make the 2026 F1 Belgian GP a potentially challenging weekend for McLaren. The Woking outfit currently sits P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, 154 points behind current Championship leader and engine supplier Mercedes.
Spa-Francorchamps will be very similar to Silverstone
Nonetheless, the 55-year-old highlighted the need to heed the drivers’ concern about the unpredictable speed difference when it comes to racing and overtaking. He urged for the feedback to be taken seriously to avoid major accidents, especially on such a high-speed track that has sadly claimed the lives of Anthoine Hubert and Dilano van ‘t Hoff in recent years.
“I think Spa will be an interesting track for everyone. Similarly to Silverstone, it will be a heavily energy-starving circuit. I think actually here we have to say that the preoccupation that we had to start with in terms of lacking energy somehow was mitigated, and we had good racing, even if in some conditions, still, listening to our drivers, they raise flags in terms of how unpredictable is the speed difference, so I think this is a point that we should listen to, because when drivers say like that, they do it for a reason.”
Stella breaks down why the 2026 F1 Belgian GP could be a tough weekend for McLaren
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is the longest circuit on the 2026 F1 calendar. Its longest section is the Kemmel Straight, measuring in at 1.05 kilometres.
As McLaren already faced serious bottoming issues at the British GP, the Italian engineer believes it will only get worse at Spa-Francorchamps due to corners like Eau Rouge.
“So I think we take away this element of concern from here, it may be similar in Spa, the straights are even longer in Spa, and there will be some challenges in terms of power unit exploitation It will be about energy deployment, for sure, there are some areas in which you will not be able to deploy the straight mode, because there are some full-throttle areas, but there are some lateral forces, so it will not be allowed. So there will be even some challenges in terms of bottoming and grounding.”
Stella also shared that he hopes McLaren will be able to maximise the new upgraded power unit that they will be bringing to the 2026 F1 Belgian GP.
“For instance, like we had here to some extent, we hope that we will be in condition to adopt the new specification of the HPP power unit.”
How the grid might interpret the new regulation
Stella then shared that he is looking forward to seeing how other teams on the grid will navigate the new regulation at the 2026 F1 Belgian GP.
Prior to the new regulations, teams used to bring smaller, skinnier rear wings to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to be rapid on the long straights and hold on in the corners.
With the 2026 technical regulations, this is no longer necessary with the introduction of straight mode.
“We will see whether some teams will actually bring some low-drag packages, like we used to see in Spa. And we will see the interpretation of this regulation, because with the straight mode, now you are less incentivised to use smaller wings. Like here, in the past, you would have come with a smaller wing, but teams didn’t do that. But it’s interesting to see if this happens in Spa.”
The Italian is also anticipating some interesting overtakes at the 2026 F1 Belgian GP.
“I think we will see quite an exciting racing when it comes to overtaking, because of deployment, for the very same reason of the energy starvation that we have here in Silverstone.”
First proper wet race of the season?
The weather at Spa-Francorchamps is another worry for McLaren at the 2026 F1 Belgian GP, as it could be the team’s first proper wet race of the season under the regulations.
Stella shared that this could be a significant factor that affects both energy deployment and tyre warm-up. Areas his drivers have raised concerns about.
“We haven’t had really proper wet racing yet, this can happen in Spa, and we will have to see how the power unit will behave, how tyre warm-up will behave, we know that this has been a topic that the drivers, again, have raised, so I think there’s all elements for a weekend that will require a lot of attention, hopefully all this will unfold in a safe way, and we will have good racing.”
