Andrea Stella Flags McLaren Pressure Ahead of F1 2026

Formula 1, Sportrik Media - Andrea Stella has underlined that McLaren still faces significant work ahead of the Formula 1 2026 season, despite entering the year as the defending double world champion following its success in 2025.

The Woking-based team began its 2026 programme with an initial shakedown in Barcelona, where Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri experienced the new-generation car for the first time. The early running comes amid sweeping technical regulation changes that could significantly alter the competitive order at the front of the grid.

Stella identified the exploitation of the Mercedes power unit as one of McLaren’s primary areas for improvement, particularly in relation to the expanded range of operational options now available to the driver under the new regulations.

“Although these are very preliminary indications, I believe that one of the areas where there is great room for improvement is in exploiting the new power unit and all the options available to the driver,” Stella said.

“There is also a lot of potential to be extracted in terms of managing the variable aerodynamic configuration, referring to the alternation between Corner Mode and Straight Mode,” he added.

Formula 1 cars will return to the track next week for official pre-season testing in Bahrain, providing McLaren with a further opportunity to gather data and refine its understanding of the interaction between active aerodynamics and overall performance ahead of the opening round.

While several early issues have already emerged, Stella stressed that such challenges are to be expected at the start of a major regulatory reset. He contrasted the current situation with the introduction of ground-effect cars four years ago, noting that the scale of change is greater this time due to simultaneous revisions to aerodynamics and power units.

As the 2026 season approaches, McLaren’s ability to accelerate its development curve will be critical in determining whether it can maintain its position at the head of the field or leave an opening for rivals to close the gap from the opening races of the championship.