McLaren’s double podium finish in Miami appeared, much like it did two years ago, to mark the beginning of an upward trajectory. The team introduced the second part of its Formula 1 upgrade package in Montreal, but the progress since then has not proven to be linear.
Lando Norris retired in both Montreal and Monaco due to power unit and gearbox problems, while outright pace was also lacking in the principality.
The reigning world champion lost valuable track time on Friday because of yet another power unit issue, but Oscar Piastri was able to complete a full programme. Even so, McLaren lacked pace throughout the weekend to genuinely fight for the top positions.
Asked by Motorsport.com whether the Monaco weekend had therefore been a reality check for McLaren, Stella admitted that the assessment actually applies to the past two grands prix.
“There’s certainly an important reality check that comes from Canada and Monaco. And the reality check is, first of all, looking at the facts. We have not been fast enough, I would say especially in terms of race pace. And in both Canada and here, we have not been reliable enough.
“When we look at reliability, we have had issues pretty much in all areas of the car. It’s not like it’s one specific area. Today it was the power unit, and we have had other issues with power unit as well. I would say this has probably been the most important area for reliability, but for Lando in Canada, it was the gearbox.”
Andrea Stella, McLaren
Photo by: Ryan Pierse / Getty Images
That means McLaren has work to do on both fronts. The reliability issues must be addressed quickly in cooperation with Mercedes HPP, while at the same time more outright pace is needed.
“So, there’s a performance assessment and there is a reliability assessment that we are doing. Looking at Canada and looking at Monaco, we understand these reliability issues in isolation. We can fix them. But obviously, when you have so many issues, it may be symptomatic of the fact that the project is still relatively young.”
When it comes to McLaren’s performance deficit, Stella sees two key issues. To begin with, the Monaco Grand Prix showed that McLaren is simply lacking load on high-downforce circuits such as Monaco. Secondly, that is also having an impact on Pirelli’s 2026 tyres.
“From a performance point of view, I said yesterday already, it’s very clear that we don’t have enough grip, mainly because we don’t have enough aerodynamic load”, Stella continued.
“And it’s also clear that we are not getting the tyres to operate in the window in which they perform at their best, especially at circuits like here and in Canada, where the tarmac is extremely smooth and the tyres operate in a particular regime.”
The latter is not solely down to the McLaren car itself, but also to the new tyres introduced for this season. Because Pirelli had to rely on widely differing simulations from the teams during development, it has been somewhat conservative in certain respects.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Luca Barsali – NurPhoto – Getty Images
More than anything, the tyres need to be capable of handling the downforce levels predicted for Abu Dhabi, and were developed with that in mind. However, that does mean they may still be somewhat too robust for the early part of the season, especially for teams that are lacking downforce compared to their rivals.
“This year, the tyres are relatively stiff and they need the temperature to operate well,” Stella admitted.
“So, there’s a long list, performance and reliability. We remain obviously with the mindset that this could be another 2024, in terms of catching up at the end. But in 2024, our trajectory from a reliability and performance point of view was more convincing.
“So, if we want to stay in the championship, we need to have a turnaround.”
