Formula 1: McLaren needed ‘unprecedented’ work to be ready for 2026 season
Stella said McLaren had reviewed its modus operandi from last season, when Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri competed for the championship, and agreed that allowing them to race each other would continue in 2026.
The team encountered a number of difficult situations as they tried to operate in what they thought was a fair way.
These included allowing Norris to follow a different strategy at the Hungarian Grand Prix; This resulted in the Australian beating Paistri to victory despite being ahead early in the race.
In Italy, Piastri was ordered to hand second place back to Norris after the Briton lost second place following team intervention in strategy and a slow pit stop.
There were also incidents in Singapore and Austin where their cars touched each other (of varying severity) and also required management.
Throughout, both drivers insisted that the team’s approach was their own preference as they each wanted the best chance of winning the championship. Norris beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to win the championship by two points, while Paistri finished third.
“Last year we talked a lot about internal racing at McLaren. From that perspective, we will enter 2026 with continuity; we will continue to race on the McLaren road,” said Stella.
“If we manage to achieve success in 2024 and then 2025, what adds extra value is the way we achieve this in such a collaborative, supportive and harmonious way with our drivers.”
“All of this has led us to a fundamental reaffirmation of the concepts of fairness, honesty, equal opportunity and sportsmanship, all of which are fundamental to the team, Lando and Oscar. These, if anything, have been confirmed and reinforced.”
However, Stella acknowledged that the team had ways to “streamline” operations.
“At the same time, we all recognize that the volume of work required in relation to internal competition is important, for example for the team and even to some extent for the drivers. he said.
“So any attempt we can make to make the ongoing racing together to some extent simpler is to be welcomed. It will actually be a matter of fine-tuning because after reviewing what we’ve done we’ve said in most cases, again, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“But we found a few opportunities where we could collectively streamline the way we work.”
