Andrea Stella has offered his thoughts on how the developmental race will define the pecking order in the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The season began with Mercedes dominating the rest of the field and many ruling out any competition with the Silver Arrows. However, as with every regulation shift, teams are quick to bring changes and upgrades, closing the gap as fast as they can.
New regulations also offer a wide scope for teams to take varying avenues in their development. Mercedes took advantage of a loophole in the compression ratio of their engines, and Ferrari debuted their full rotating ‘macarena’ rear wing.
The various steps forward teams have taken have resulted in Mercedes claiming only two victories in the past five races, with Ferrari and McLaren closing the distance.
Ferrari have been noted as one of the frontrunners in the veracity and aggression of their upgrades. This came thick and fast, to the point where Toto Wolff questioned how the Maranello team was managing the developmental push under the cost cap.
McLaren have also closed the gap, with Lando Norris taking the win in Hungary by a margin of 15 seconds. This came after the MCL40 saw an upgrade of five components.
Stella, the McLaren team principal, noted how important these upgrades have been for the team.
“The improvement from a competitiveness point of view can be entirely ascribed to the upgrades that we took here.” He said.
“But at the same time, we were sort of thinking that this lap time step [would] not necessarily have been enough to be in pole position at the Hungaroring.
“Definitely we would not [have] thought that there would be enough to have such a strong pace in the race.”
An uphill battle
There’s still a significant way to go for the Woking outfit, with 159 points standing between them and Mercedes, who hold the Constructors’ lead.
However, the tide has been shifting, and as teams continue to take steps forward, the order continues to shift. That’s where Stella pinpointed McLaren’s priorities for the rest of the season.
“Honestly, I still believe that if we want to be in a position to fight for victories consistently in the future, we need to keep our focus on delivering more upgrades.” He said.
“That is the plan, but we are not naive. We know that this will be the plan for all the teams. So I think, like it’s always been in this 2026 season, it’s a matter of a race of upgrades.”
The progress McLaren has made has been significant, not just in all-out performance but also in reliability. The start of the season had both Oscar Piastri and Norris facing mechanical issues.
While they haven’t eradicated the problems, as Piastri’s Hungarian Grand Prix ended early due to the ongoing problems, they’re far less frequent than the double DNS and multiple DNFs the team saw in the opening rounds.
That aspect of progression was something that Stella praised: “The good news is that McLaren is now back in this race of upgrades while fighting for the lead.”
Charles Leclerc urged that the Ferrari camp should continue on their aggressive upgrade campaign, and Stella shared the sentiment for McLaren.
“But I expect that the car that will be the best car at the end of the season will keep adding tenths of a second in the next 11 [12 currently scheduled] races, probably as much as half a second. So, definitely a lot of work ahead of everyone, not only McLaren.”
Aggressive upgrade campaigns
McLaren have always been efficient in managing upgrades and climbing through the field. The Woking team took a monumental climb from being a midfield team in 2022 to taking back-to-back Constructors’ titles in 2024 and 2025.
Stella acknowledged that the team knew well ahead of the season that this would be a year of development rather than hitting the ground running out of the gate.
“There will be a few things coming for the next races,” said Stella. “This year, pretty much the top teams have always been successful in introducing upgrades to what I can see.
“I think this is because the rules are still relatively immature and the opportunities in terms of developing the car are almost low-hanging fruit to cash in.”
Despite their success in the past, Stella looked at the 2026 season as a clean slate, with the front runners all evenly matched in their battle to be the best.
“So I don’t think McLaren has any particular advantage in like, ‘oh everything we take is successful’. I think everyone is now doing a good job in terms of bringing successful upgrades.
“It will be more about how many upgrades the top teams will be in condition to deliver so far and for what’s left of the season, because we are only midway in this season.”
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