Andrea Stella has backed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s assessment of McLaren’s current performance after the 2026 F1 Austrian GP, explaining that the team needs upgrades to match the pace of its rivals.
McLaren struggled with race pace during the Austrian GP, with Piastri finishing P4 and Norris P7. Speaking after the race, Piastri said P4 was the maximum result he could have achieved, while Norris explained that McLaren is “a long way behind” when discussing the MCL40’s lack of competitiveness in Spielberg’s high-speed sections.
Stella: “We have to upgrade the MCL40”
Speaking after the race in a print media session, McLaren’s Team Principal Stella agreed with his drivers’ comments, as he said:
“I think the assessment of the drivers is absolutely spot on. This is where we are at the moment. I said yesterday also that unlike last year where there would be some tracks where there was a difference in terms of competitiveness, the car was very sensitive to the set-up. This year, this pattern of competitiveness seems to be quite consistent and we see that to have an alteration of this pattern, this is because we have cars delivering upgrades.”
Stella went on to explain that Red Bull’s upgraded package has helped them return to contention for victory in Spielberg, with Max Verstappen showing enormous pace and finishing P2.
“So, not surprised that Red Bull now joins the party to compete for the victory because if we look at the amount of development that they have brought to their car here in Austria, then this is no surprise that they will have added a few tenths of a second. We know from our side that we miss probably three or four tenths of a second and we see this in qualifying and we see this in the race and we tend to see pretty much the same pattern across different tracks,” he said.
Notably, Norris underlined this issue in Qualifying after only managing to qualify P6, and Piastri P7. Speaking during media day, Norris also revealed that McLaren is “two, three months behind” in upgrades.
Searching for an answer, Stella said: “So, it’s a very consistent picture, and we know exactly what we have to do.We have to upgrade the MCL40.”
Outperforming Ferrari at the Red Bull Ring
Despite McLaren’s struggles, one positive from the 2026 F1 Austrian GP was finishing ahead of Ferrari. Piastri beat Lewis Hamilton to the flag, while Norris also finished ahead of Charles Leclerc, despite Ferrari starting the race in P2 and P3 after an impressive Qualifying session.
When asked about Ferrari’s strategy, particularly their decision to pit Hamilton under the Virtual Safety Car, Andrea Stella shared that the move did not surprise him.
Instead, he suggested that their race pace and tyre degradation had a greater influence on their result.
“I think, first of all, it was a relatively positive surprise today to see that we could be in contention with Ferrari even if not necessarily this looked to be the case in the first stint. But they went for a short first stint so I think the strategic element is also one that should be taken into account because when you have this high level of degradation then you sort of need to make sure that you pit late enough such that your stints are not going to be too affected by tyre degradation.
“I wasn’t surprised when Lewis pitted because having pitted so early at the end of the first stint then actually the Virtual Safety Car I think it came at a relatively good time for Lewis. I think for them today it was more a matter of pace and I’m not sure, we will have to look at the numbers, if it’s just absolute pace in the race or probably some additional tyre degradation compared to some other competitors,” he concluded.
