Team Principal Andrea Stella shed more light on McLaren’s strategy choice, Lewis Hamilton’s pace, the positives they took away from the race, Ferrari’s increased competitiveness, and the area they still need to work on after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri crossed the line in P3 and P5, respectively, at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP on Sunday.
Setting the fourth-fastest time in qualifying, Norris started the 66-lap race on the medium tyres. While he didn’t have the pace to challenge Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes drivers, he made the two-stop strategy of M-H-H work and inherited the podium upon Kimi Antonelli’s retirement on Lap 62.
Despite being on a similar strategy following his race start from the fourth row on the grid, Piastri struggled for pace relative to his teammate. He was on course to come home in seventh place before Antonelli and Charles Leclerc retired with only four laps to go.
Stella reveals whether McLaren were aiming for an undercut at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP
As Norris boxed for the second time on Lap 35, George Russell dived into the pits on the subsequent tour and managed to cover off the reigning world champion on Sunday.
Speaking in a print media session after the F1 race, Andrea Stella opened up about McLaren adopting a two-stop strategy at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP and explained how Norris had tried to keep up with the Mercedes drivers to attempt an undercut.
Although their bid to undercut Russell with Norris ultimately proved to be unsuccessful, the Italian argued that they had left nothing on the table so far as strategy was concerned.
“In terms of playing with the strategy from an undercutting point of view, we actually tried to be as close as possible to Mercedes to then go for an undercut.
“In a way we did it, but it wasn’t successful.
“So, from this point of view, I think we attempted anything that was in our armoury.”
Stella on the positives McLaren took away from the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Pondering if three stops would’ve been the most optimal strategy at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Andrea Stella revealed that the hardest compound holding up well during the second stint had made them momentarily believe that the two-stopper could help them beat Hamilton, who was on an aggressive three-stopper.
“If anything, consideration in hindsight is should we have gone for a three-stop? Like what was the right strategy today?
“At some stage when we saw that the hard tyres were behaving well in the second stint, we thought that the two-stop would’ve been a way at least to attempt to beat Hamilton.”
Hailing the seven-time champion as the fastest driver on the track in Sunday’s event, the McLaren Team Principal claimed that the Ferrari driver would’ve emerged victorious regardless of the strategy they had decided upon.
Nonetheless, Stella highlighted the positives they took away from the race weekend and stated that the MCL40 being able to keep pace with the W17 in extremely hot conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was an encouraging sign following their comparative lack of competitiveness in the last two rounds.
“But as a matter of fact, Hamilton was fast, and probably the fastest car today, and he would have won, I think, definitely with the three-stop, he would have won.
“So, more than anything, I would say consideration over whether the three-stop could’ve been better [is futile].
“But at the same time, let me say that for us it’s good news that in these conditions we were able to stay with Mercedes.
“We come from a couple of events on Sundays in Canada, and then the Sunday in Monaco, where we struggled with the performance and overall competitiveness.”
Ferrari’s massive step forward and the area where McLaren are still lagging behind
Although he acknowledged the step forward McLaren appears to have taken, Andrea Stella was also quick to point out how their rival Ferrari had also made substantial performance gains in Sunday’s Barcelona-Catalunya GP.
Referring to the Italian outfit’s sizeable upgrade package with eight updated elements that had rendered the SF-26 competitive enough to break Mercedes’s win streak so far in the 2026 F1 season, the 55-year-old commented that McLaren still have a lot of ground to cover in terms of improving the MCL40’s overall performance.
“So, it’s good to see that we are there with Mercedes.
“But at the same time, there’s a competitor, Ferrari, that were able to upgrade their car. They gained performance, and now they lean on winning races, and today they could capitalise.
“So, definitely, there’s more to do with the car performance.”
