McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella conceded there is “work ahead of us” as the reigning World Champions McLaren were left unable to fight for victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
With Oscar Piastri dramatically crashing out of his home event, before the race even started on his way to the grid, 2025 World Champion Lando Norris was left as the team’s sole representative as the lights went out.
While he did hold off a charging Max Verstappen in the closing stages to take fifth, McLaren look to have slipped behind Mercedes and Ferrari in the early 2026 pecking order – the Silver Arrows took an impressive 1-2 result and the fast-starting Scuderia were very much in the fight.
“In fairness, the gap today was, if anything, similar to what we saw yesterday in Qualifying,” Stella explained after Sunday’s race, with Piastri and Norris qualifying in fifth and sixth respectively.
“There’s performance that needs to come from two main areas. One is the power unit exploitation, and one is having more grip in the corners. And in a way, today, I think it was exactly the same.
“Still, we remain a little puzzled by the difference we see in the data between the speed of our car and the speed of other cars using the same power unit. This clearly indicates that we should be doing a better job in understanding how to utilise the power unit with the complexities that came with the 2026 regulations. So, definitely work to do.”
McLaren are running the same power unit as Mercedes, who put theirs to good use in recording a 1-2 to start the season in style. Stella admitted that Mercedes are also quicker in the corners, with the Woking-based squad needing to understand how they are losing that crucial time.
“Develop the car,” Stella stated as McLaren’s main objective now. “This will take a few races, in terms of seeing some major upgrades that can allow us to change a bit the category for which we compete. Therefore, I think in these few initial races, we will have to make sure that we extract most of the car in its current configuration.”
McLaren’s race data was solely collected by Norris, after Piastri crashed on his out-lap before the race. It dashed hopes of a home podium yet again for the Australian, but Stella believes his young charge will bounce back as he explained the causes of the incident.
“Oscar, very unfortunate and very tough for him in front of the Australian crowd,” McLaren’s Team Principal said. “But Oscar… [is a] tough guy mentally.
“He will use all this to get even more concentrated and determined, starting from China. So, we will make sure that we all face this in a united way.”
Stella highlighted that Piastri had used that kerb throughout the weekend, but that the combination of being on it with colder than normal tyres did not help the Australian.
He continued: “This further compounds with an element that doesn’t make it easier again, which is the fact that with these oscillations and following the shift, there’s an extra torque, let’s say, that when we look at the behaviour of the power unit, it’s sort of expected to happen like that.
“In testing, we might have seen some similar circumstances, but we didn’t have the combination of cold tyres and the kerb which aggravated the fact that you may have these inconsistencies from a power deployment point of view. Well, power deployment is not correct. I would say torque deployment in grip-limited phases.”
Piastri will look to bounce back in China this weekend, as McLaren seek more data with which to decide on the development direction of their car in 2026.
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