2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[E8404424]

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.

Really ??.. public berating isn't his style ?? .. and let's have a look at his "man management" because it seems a bit skewed in one direction.

Stella seemed to have zero problem getting Will to publicly berate Lando over the radio in Hungary. Contrast that with his reaction after Monza 2024, when Oscar almost took both of them out and gifted Charles a win at Monza. He stood up and publicly said that Oscar was the future. Defending his boy, a trait he loves. Stella seemed to have to have no problem letting everyone know that Lando now had "repercussions" after a wheel bang in Singapore, and ones that didn't just punish Lando but were also designed to gave Oscar an advantage. Then Oscar takes out both cars in Austin and Stella's response is "Okay, we'll just not punish Lando anymore". Because god forbid Oscar "the future" Piastri gets held to account. What kind of man management is punishing one drive after a wheel bang, but not the other for taking out both ?? .. as someone posted above, that smirk at Zandvoort spoke volumes. Or Miami this year when, after Lando won the sprint, Stella says that whoever was on pole would have won that race. Hardly damning praise of your driver that. When Lando won the title Stella stated in the interview while Lando was still on the podium that Oscar would be a multiple Champion. Actually he was right there, it was just on Grill the Grid and not a drivers title. That was his thoughts after Lando won McLaren's first drivers title since 2008 .. "But Oscar will be better". When Lando extended his contract Stella even used that to talk about Oscar. Maybe the reason Lando stood up in Canada and took the blame was because he knew Stella was going to make sure he did.

A bind man in a snowstorm can see where Stella's loyalties lie. And why Oscar can feel confident in "going off" when it's his time to return the tow.

I served in the military as an aircrew officer. Outside of flying I had secondary duties, one was for the welfare of my ground crew. They all got treated the same. Whether it was good or bad. And they knew it. If I had treated any different to the others then I would have lost their respect. I fly business jets now. I flew a lot of F1 charters with a previous company and have chatted to some familiar names in the sport. I asked one, after Singapore and the "repercussions" drivel, if they thought Stella was not that keen on Lando. The guy just smiled and while nodding his head up and down said "You may think that, I couldn't possibly comment." So people in the sport have noticed.

I spent twelve years on fighter squadrons, if you think F1 is cut throat, try these guys. You learn to spot the snakes.

[Darth-Piekus]

So in general what you say is that Stella is pro Oscar and anti Lando?

[Balalu]

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.

This 100%

And it doesn't mean that he does not manage the situation behind doors.

[Balalu]

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

https://scontent.fotp3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=6AA79F91

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.

In what world is that a smile?

[Emag]

In my opinion this Stella bias is overplayed by the fans of each driver. The "problem" with Stella is that he tries to be the "good guy" at all times and when one of his drivers is having an off day, he tries to put them on the spotlight and make excuses on their part to try and improve their image to the public in spite of bad performances. Last year for example, towards the beginning of the season, you can see the same thing happening on Lando's side. Oscar was winning races yet Stella always tried to pull Lando back in the spotlight and find whatever silver lining he could from an objectively bad weekend.

This year, unfortunately for Oscar, he has been trailing Lando more often than not. So you end up noticing this trait of Stella in the other direction. He is simply trying to make Oscar look good. That doesn't make Lando look bad in the process. Stella literally has no reason to like Oscar more than Lando. If anything, I would assume the opposite.

[venkyhere]

Nothing about my 'perception' of the driver pairing (formed a few races into 2024) has changed , even when the regulations have changed this year -
- Norris is the faster driver, and vastly superior to his teammate when it comes to not eating up tyres.
- Piastri is the braver wheel-to-wheel racer, and 'can get the other guy to back off' more often than Norris does.

[CjC]

Not the best source, but...

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.

I guess we are both kinda wrong.

Mclaren intend to bring a new high downforce wing which incorporates the ‘H-wing’ from the ground up later in the season.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mcla ... /10854102/

[AR3-GP]

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.

I guess we are both kinda wrong.

Mclaren intend to bring a new high downforce wing which incorporates the ‘H-wing’ from the ground up later in the season.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mcla ... /10854102/

That is what I was trying to say. The current spec high downforce flaps were not designed for h-wing. There are many aero and mechanical considerations.

[Darth-Piekus]

Where do you think Mclaren stands in Madring? The circuit has one good straight, and a combination of fast, mediums and slow corners.

[Waz]

Where do you think Mclaren stands in Madring? The circuit has one good straight, and a combination of fast, mediums and slow corners.

Sector 1 is the only question mark, but S2 is so similar to Zandvoort and S3 is Baku or Singapore.

Unless something unexpected happens, I would bet good money on a Lando win, and Oscar top 5, maybe podium.

[Waz]

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.

I guess we are both kinda wrong.

Mclaren intend to bring a new high downforce wing which incorporates the ‘H-wing’ from the ground up later in the season.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mcla ... /10854102/

It's the rearward opening and the gap between planes that limits the flap use for now.

[Darth-Piekus]

Where do you think Mclaren stands in Madring? The circuit has one good straight, and a combination of fast, mediums and slow corners.

Sector 1 is the only question mark, but S2 is so similar to Zandvoort and S3 is Baku or Singapore.

Unless something unexpected happens, I would bet good money on a Lando win, and Oscar top 5, maybe podium.

Sector 1 doesn't have that big of a straight and the second one is more of an open turn than a straight.

[Darth-Piekus]

At the moment the car doesn't seem to be on the first two rows but I don't think Mclaren is pushing yet in FP1. We shal see in FP2.

[Darth-Piekus]

The car is struggling in Madrid

[CjC]

The team will if Norris doesn’t complete a long run this session.
He has not had a season for reliability.