George Russell’s dominant Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying performance highlighted a clear Mercedes advantage in Baku, but Andrea Stella believes it would be too simplistic to attribute the difference to the power unit. Despite McLaren using the same Mercedes engine, the Woking team repeatedly lost ground on the straights, leading its team principal to point instead towards the overall efficiency of the Mercedes package.
The picture from Baku qualifying was difficult to ignore. George Russell claimed pole position by more than eight tenths of a second over Charles Leclerc, confirming the superiority Mercedes had already shown throughout free practice. On a circuit dominated by an exceptionally long straight, attention inevitably turned towards the well-known strength of the Mercedes power unit. According to Stella, however, the engine alone does not explain what happened.
Andrea Stella explains Mercedes’ Baku straight-line advantage
That distinction is particularly significant because McLaren is itself powered by Mercedes. Data gathered by the Woking team showed a clear difference in top speed compared with the factory Mercedes cars, but Stella warned against assuming that the gap comes from differences in power-unit management or performance.
“On a circuit like this, we saw throughout all the free practice sessions and then again in qualifying that we were losing time on the straight compared with the works Mercedes. Even though we have the same power unit, there are some differences, and I think it is fair to say that their package – chassis, gear ratios, the power unit itself – simply seems to be more effective when it comes to generating maximum speed.”
Mercedes’ strength in this area is not something that appeared for the first time in Azerbaijan. The team has repeatedly demonstrated strong straight-line performance during the season, an important element of the overall competitiveness of the Mercedes W17.
“We saw how strong they were at Monza and, on practically every long straight we have faced during the championship, they have been able to reach higher speeds,” Stella explained.
Why the Mercedes engine does not tell the whole story
Stella’s point is an important one from an engineering perspective. Even when two cars use the same power unit, their maximum speed can be influenced by several other factors. Aerodynamic efficiency, overall drag, gear ratios and the wider configuration of the car all contribute to the figure eventually recorded through the speed trap.
“From an engineering point of view, it would be incorrect to say there is a difference in the power unit or that they are somehow able to exploit it slightly better, because in reality we don’t know that and we are not assuming there is any difference. What I am saying is that their overall package is more effective.”
The Mercedes advantage in Baku was already visible before the final qualifying laps, with Russell eventually converting that pace into pole position ahead of Leclerc. The scale of the gap also reinforced the broader questions surrounding the performance potential Mercedes has been extracting from its 2026 car, despite Toto Wolff previously acknowledging that the team still had untapped potential in the W17 development programme.
McLaren sees drag as an area for improvement
Stella also identified one area where McLaren knows it still has work to do. Lower aerodynamic resistance could be one of the elements contributing to Mercedes’ superior speed on Baku’s long flat-out sections.
“They could, for example, also have less aerodynamic drag. We know that drag is an area we need to continue working on. So we take this situation as a fact and also as an opportunity to improve.”
The power-unit side nevertheless remains an important part of the equation. McLaren and Mercedes HPP continued working until the final hours before qualifying to optimise the parameters available within the power unit.
“In the debrief I have just thanked our HPP engineers for being so responsive and capable of adapting, trying to maximise everything that was available from the power unit,” Stella said.
Russell’s pace ultimately resulted in a dominant pole position, with the Mercedes driver securing the front of the Baku grid ahead of Charles Leclerc.
McLaren investigates separate Lando Norris power problem
There is also a second issue, separate from McLaren’s wider comparison with Mercedes, concerning Lando Norris’ car. McLaren detected an anomaly that occasionally resulted in a loss of power during the Baku weekend.
“We detected a power deficit that we are investigating. It seems to be connected to a behaviour of the fuel-injection system, something that we hope we can resolve or that the adaptive systems should be able to improve ahead of tomorrow.”
Stella was careful to distinguish the Norris problem from the general performance difference between McLaren and Mercedes. The issue affecting Norris appears to be an isolated anomaly rather than an explanation for the wider straight-line deficit seen throughout the weekend.
“Occasionally the power unit delivers a little less power, but it is a specific phenomenon, a specific problem. It has nothing to do with the general behaviour of the power unit.”
For McLaren, the Baku comparison therefore points towards a broader performance challenge rather than a simple engine deficit. Mercedes and McLaren may share the same fundamental power unit, but Stella’s assessment suggests that aerodynamics, drag, gearing and overall vehicle integration are determining how effectively that power is translated into speed on Formula 1’s longest straights.
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