Andrea Stella has made a startling admission on the pace of McLaren after Bahrain testing ahead of the Formula 1 season opener in Australia.
Entering the Bahrain tests, McLaren hoped to keep its place as F1’s top team, following back to back Constructors’ titles in 2024 and 2025, and Lando Norris’ driver’s title win last season.
The vastly different cars are a radical departure from the ground effect regulations that the team nailed so effectively, presenting a new challenge.
Initial analysis showed McLaren to be in the mix, Norris and Oscar Piastri featuring at the top of the timesheets, the MCL40 showing strong energy management.
However, Team Principal Stella has now confirmed the team has slipped back in the competitive with an alarming admission over its true pace.
“Very difficult to say,” he said to media, including Motorsport Week on whether McLaren is ahead of Mercedes and Ferrari.
There is a race simulation that I was, I think, yesterday, Oscar, and Verstappen.
“It happened at a similar time of the day, and it was a similar pace.Often, the race simulation is actually where you can more accurately see what the genuine performance of cars is.
“The reason why I think we have to be careful is that depending on the time of the day, then the race simulation may be quite a lot faster.
“Like now, Lando, he was performing pretty strongly in a race simulation, but at the same time, probably the end of day three was the fastest time the track has been across the six days.So, difficult.
“I think McLaren and Red Bull are probably very similar. Ferrari and Mercedes are a step ahead.”
Will McLaren bring upgrades to Melbourne?
With precious time left before McLaren takes to the track in Melbourne, Stella confirmed no dramatic changes are planned to the MCL39.
“In terms of car specification, what we have seen here at the test is fundamentally the car that we will see in Australia,” he admitted.
“There will be a few parts that are being manufactured in the meantime and they will be ready just for Australia.
“Certainly working on reducing the weight of the car is always a development item because even if you are at the weight limit, you want to be actually under the weight limit because then you can play with ballast
“.So I think this is something on which the teams will keep themselves busy for a long time until they are well under the weight limit.”
READ MORE: Lando Norris identifies loss of key 2025 McLaren F1 advantage
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