McLaren boss Andrea Stella has shed light on a limitation of the team’s 2025 car as the battle for the Formula 1 World Championship enters its defining stretch.
McLaren has been the standout performer this season, with a level of consistency that means it can wrap up the Constructors’ title this weekend in Singapore.
The Woking-based squad endured a blip at the previous round in Azerbaijan, however, as Oscar Piastri crashed on the opening lap, while Lando Norris took seventh.
Unlike many weekends in 2025 where McLaren’s advantage was evident, the Baku event marked a departure, a pattern also visible at Monza.
On both occasions, Red Bull and Max Verstappen thrived with a low-downforce set-up, while McLaren struggled to impose the same dominance.
According to Stella, the common denominator at those tracks lies in the braking profile. Both circuits demand heavy braking from high speed in straight-line scenarios – a situation the MCL39 is less adept at managing. And looking ahead, Stella predicts a similar challenge awaits in Las Vegas for McLaren.
“From a performance point of view, if you had asked me, ‘What is the most difficult weekend?’, I would have said it would be Baku or Las Vegas,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“We know very well that the characteristics of our car mean that it is very competitive in long and medium speed corners, of which there are none in Baku, likewise in Las Vegas.
“The car is not particularly effective in straight line braking, of which there is a lot [in Baku and Vegas], or when you have to go through prescribed trajectories.
“The car really wants to roll in the corners, like Turn 1 at Zandvoort is a McLaren corner, of which you have none in Baku or Vegas.
“But having said that, the car was fast enough to compete for pole position [in Baku], which is a credit to the engineers who have designed a pretty versatile car, even when not operating within the strengths of the car itself.
“So, Baku and probably Las Vegas, it will definitely not be a surprise that there are cars as competitive as McLaren.”
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