Stella says F1’s 2026 development rate is unprecedented

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Formula 1’s development pace and success with upgrades in 2026 are unlike anything he has seen before. He also said the demands of competing for the 2026 world championship were higher than McLaren had previously been able to meet.

McLaren has experienced both sides of that development race. After a major upgrade at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris won both the Hungarian and Dutch races from pole position. He also took pole at the Spanish Grand Prix, where an unfortunately timed virtual safety car denied him victory. After the Madrid race, RacingNews365 reported that McLaren had slipped back in the pecking order in Azerbaijan and Bahrain, while Red Bull made a decisive step forward with its RB22.

Stella urged caution in reading the competitive order from the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. He said the track surface was unusually rough—only Bahrain offered a comparable level—and that the cars were sensitive to roughness beyond its effect on tyres.

Stella also pointed to hot, humid conditions and the cars’ substantial cooling demands. His hypothetical was that, with a 20-degree rise in temperature, the car with the strongest cooling capacity might also have the most downforce. He urged teams to be respectful and prudent when judging rival upgrades, saying McLaren did not know other teams’ data and was still trying to understand its own car.