2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[CjC]

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433 ... grand-prix

McLaren boss Andrea Stella says the team's realistic target is to "consistently" be in the fight for wins until the end of the season.

"I think our tracks will be more the likes of Malaysia, Austin, Brazil. I think where we have some long corners, the car seems to express its potential well," said Stella.

"We have some new upgrades that we will take to Baku, but we still think that tracks like Baku and Madrid where you have to be very precise with the trajectory, short corners, maybe they don't play to the best of our car. Yet we have to say that in Zandvoort and Hungary we were in a position to win races and in Monza while we were not, we know that it's a special race.

"The drag will be less important in Madrid, there's a much higher density of corners, so we will definitely give it a go, but from a championship point of view I think we have to remain very realistic, don't get conditioned by looking at the classification, just focus on one race at a time."

[mwillems]

It's slightly contradictory. Not to our strengths, but at similar tracks we did well (Won).

In my view, the car is very good at quick changes of direction.

[mwillems]

Better to say, it can be good. Let's see what the setup for the track allows.

[SilviuAgo]

They now start to do also PR (paid) articles to praised Oscar?
https://www.pitdebrief.com/post/stella- ... um=bluesky

Ever since his rookie season in 2023, the 25-year-old has struggled on low grip surfaces in the main. While he has improved on the tyre management side, the driver from Melbourne has still had struggles in adapting to the machinery underneath him when it is tricky to drive. The rear of the MCL40 in particular has been a weakness in 2026.

Nonetheless, Monza was a step forward. He outqualified his World Champion teammate and was P3, before a grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson dropped him to 6th on the grid. Piastri was still two spots ahead of Norris, nonetheless.

Stella is confident the performance shown by Piastri at the F1 Italian GP will be a regular theme across the rest of 2026.

“So very happy, very pleased with the progress that Oscar is making. I think he will have a very strong second half of the season.”

[Slahinki]

They now start to do also PR (paid) articles to praised Oscar?
https://www.pitdebrief.com/post/stella- ... um=bluesky

Ever since his rookie season in 2023, the 25-year-old has struggled on low grip surfaces in the main. While he has improved on the tyre management side, the driver from Melbourne has still had struggles in adapting to the machinery underneath him when it is tricky to drive. The rear of the MCL40 in particular has been a weakness in 2026.

Nonetheless, Monza was a step forward. He outqualified his World Champion teammate and was P3, before a grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson dropped him to 6th on the grid. Piastri was still two spots ahead of Norris, nonetheless.

Stella is confident the performance shown by Piastri at the F1 Italian GP will be a regular theme across the rest of 2026.

“So very happy, very pleased with the progress that Oscar is making. I think he will have a very strong second half of the season.”

Gee, I wonder if there was something that one driver did for the other that wasn't reciprocated that might have impacted the result in qualifying...

Also it's far too early to state anything about any improvements in tire management, considering Monza is gentle on the tires and the fact he was demolished just the race before. How can they even write tripe like that with a straight face? The only people that believe it are those who don't watch the races or seriously think McLaren sabotaged Oscar last year.

[SmallSoldier]

They now start to do also PR (paid) articles to praised Oscar?
https://www.pitdebrief.com/post/stella- ... um=bluesky

Ever since his rookie season in 2023, the 25-year-old has struggled on low grip surfaces in the main. While he has improved on the tyre management side, the driver from Melbourne has still had struggles in adapting to the machinery underneath him when it is tricky to drive. The rear of the MCL40 in particular has been a weakness in 2026.

Nonetheless, Monza was a step forward. He outqualified his World Champion teammate and was P3, before a grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson dropped him to 6th on the grid. Piastri was still two spots ahead of Norris, nonetheless.

Stella is confident the performance shown by Piastri at the F1 Italian GP will be a regular theme across the rest of 2026.

“So very happy, very pleased with the progress that Oscar is making. I think he will have a very strong second half of the season.”

Nah… Smart move from an otherwise low traffic site… Mission accomplished on their behalf… Lure a few “driver fans” that will either fully agree or fully disagree with the statement, generate some rage bait and get them to share it as far and wide as possible (like you did) hoping that some will click the link to read the rest of try to comment on it… It’s all about the clicks.

On the other hand, it is not an inaccurate representation of the weekend if one is basing it simply from how the drivers were positioned after qualifying, there is definitely lack of context, but not inaccurate

[Waz]

Stella has such a grounded leadership style. He accepts the championship is highly unlikely, so the next best thing is to win more races and put the focus on that as the ultimate goal for the year.

[Emag]

I think Stella knows that this championship is pretty much impossible to win. Mercedes can still dominate races while they are completely off-sync with the upgrades compared to everyone else.
Still though, trajectory matters. Especially if they plan on carrying over this concept for next year.

[AR3-GP]

Not the best source, but...

They presented their 'H-Wing' in Monza but won't use it in the Spanish Grand Prix.

[Darth-Piekus]

I think Stella knows that this championship is pretty much impossible to win. Mercedes can still dominate races while they are completely off-sync with the upgrades compared to everyone else.
Still though, trajectory matters. Especially if they plan on carrying over this concept for next year.

Mercedes isnt gonna make our mistakes of last year where we costed our drivers 60 points each.

[CjC]

Not the best source, but...

They presented their 'H-Wing' in Monza but won't use it in the Spanish Grand Prix.

I got the impression pre-Monza that the ‘h-wing’ wouldn’t be on all the rear wings at the races going forward for the remaining part of the season.
Strange because dumping more drag on a higher DF wing would be more beneficial for laptime?
Must just be a limitation of the cost cap.

[AR3-GP]

Not the best source, but...

They presented their 'H-Wing' in Monza but won't use it in the Spanish Grand Prix.

I got the impression pre-Monza that the ‘h-wing’ wouldn’t be on all the rear wings at the races going forward for the remaining part of the season.
Strange because dumping more drag on a higher DF wing would be more beneficial for laptime?
Must just be a limitation of the cost cap.

I don't think it's a cost cap issue. I think it's a geometry issue. There's something about the shape of the higher downforce wings that doesn't mesh well with being flipped upside down. When developing the macarena wing, you also have to think about the aerodynamics of the open position of the wing. It could be that Mclaren didn't yet manage to merge the concepts in terms of the pressure recovery, the drag reduction, and other details like clearance to the mainplane when it opens.

[mwillems]

They now start to do also PR (paid) articles to praised Oscar?
https://www.pitdebrief.com/post/stella- ... um=bluesky

Ever since his rookie season in 2023, the 25-year-old has struggled on low grip surfaces in the main. While he has improved on the tyre management side, the driver from Melbourne has still had struggles in adapting to the machinery underneath him when it is tricky to drive. The rear of the MCL40 in particular has been a weakness in 2026.

Nonetheless, Monza was a step forward. He outqualified his World Champion teammate and was P3, before a grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson dropped him to 6th on the grid. Piastri was still two spots ahead of Norris, nonetheless.

Stella is confident the performance shown by Piastri at the F1 Italian GP will be a regular theme across the rest of 2026.

“So very happy, very pleased with the progress that Oscar is making. I think he will have a very strong second half of the season.”

Of course he's going to back his driver and help him find confidence. What else was he going to do? It's not Stella's style to publicly berate and if it were, not every driver will react well to it and so it still might not happen.

Dear lord, it's just normal man management.

[SilviuAgo]

They now start to do also PR (paid) articles to praised Oscar?
https://www.pitdebrief.com/post/stella- ... um=bluesky

Ever since his rookie season in 2023, the 25-year-old has struggled on low grip surfaces in the main. While he has improved on the tyre management side, the driver from Melbourne has still had struggles in adapting to the machinery underneath him when it is tricky to drive. The rear of the MCL40 in particular has been a weakness in 2026.

Nonetheless, Monza was a step forward. He outqualified his World Champion teammate and was P3, before a grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson dropped him to 6th on the grid. Piastri was still two spots ahead of Norris, nonetheless.

Stella is confident the performance shown by Piastri at the F1 Italian GP will be a regular theme across the rest of 2026.

“So very happy, very pleased with the progress that Oscar is making. I think he will have a very strong second half of the season.”

Of course he's going to back his driver and help him find confidence. What else was he going to do? It's not Stella's style to publicly berate and if it were, not every driver will react well to it and so it still might not happen.

Dear lord, it's just normal man management.

I agree with you—it's normal for a Team Principal to back their drivers, praise them, encourage them, and stand by them. But my feeling is that at McLaren, Andrea Stella goes a step further when doing this for Oscar.

I know that Lando is doing better in 2026, but not too long ago, during the first half of the 2025 season, things weren't looking great for him. Maybe my memory isn't perfect, but I don't recall seeing articles or interviews with Stella supporting Lando at every single race like he's doing with Oscar.

Call me unforgiving, but I just can't forget or forgive Stella's 'smile' when Lando DNF'd in Zandvoort.

https://www.tiktok.com/@formula1.ily/vi ... 2813720852



Anyway, as you know, I've been a McLaren fan for a very long time and we all know that even Ron Dennis had his favorites—Ayrton over Berger or Prost, Mika over DC, and Lewis over Alonso. I hope Oscar figures out these new cars soon so McLaren can get back on top. Maybe right now he's in a similar position to Russell at Mercedes, needing more time to adapt his driving style to the new regulations. McLaren definitely doesn't need a Ricciardo 2.0—a great driver who just failed to adapt.

[AR3-GP]

@Emag I was looking forward to your post-race digest on the insights twitter page.

After some hours pass, there’s plenty of other accounts which post their analysis for the race so I don’t see the point in doing it at that point.

Yeah but most of those accounts are shills or posting with an agenda so I unfollow.