The reigning world champion team has begun the 2026 season at a significant distance from Mercedes and Ferrari, who are currently the benchmark teams in Formula 1.
A change of guard
No more papaya-colored podiums, back-to-back victories, or debates over driver engagement rules. With the introduction of the new technical regulations, the dominance that McLaren imposed on the F1 grid over the past year and a half—winning two consecutive Constructors’ Championships and the 2025 Drivers’ Championship with Lando Norris—has disappeared. Woking’s team is still competitive with Red Bull, but this time the battle is for third and fourth on the grid, as both Mercedes and Ferrari are much further ahead.
Several issues to solve
Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, was candid in his post-race interview with Sky Sport F1 following the season-opening Australian GP. The race weekend began disastrously for McLaren, with Oscar Piastri involved in an accident before the start: “It was important to finish the race,” Stella said. “But we only finish with one driver. Unfortunately for Oscar, there was an issue on the formation lap: as he went over the kerb, the power unit reacted in a slightly unexpected way, which caused him to spin. With Norris, we completed the race, which is important, but we finish 50 seconds behind the leader.”
“We know there is performance we still need to find,” Stella continued, “and that some of it comes from the way we use the power unit. Looking at the data and comparing our speed with Mercedes, it’s clear they are extracting more from the engine than we are. There is also performance to be gained through the corners, because at the moment we don’t have enough aerodynamic downforce. So the objectives are clear. Graining? In this race, oddly, the hard tyres showed more graining than the mediums, and we’ve maintained in 2026 a trend we’ve seen in the past: when there’s front tyre graining, we tend to experience slightly more than other teams.”
As the team heads toward the next rounds, the focus in Woking will be split between aero development and a deep dive into the software maps of the Mercedes engine. Closing a 50-second gap is a monumental task, but for a team that has tasted championship glory so recently, the motivation to bridge the divide is higher than ever.
The 2026 Australian Grand Prix has therefore served as a wake-up call for McLaren, highlighting significant deficits in aerodynamic load and energy management that have dropped the reigning champions behind their main rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes.
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