McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has clearly stated the reason why her team, which dropped to fourth fastest position behind Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull at the British Grand Prix weekend: delays in the update program. According to Stella, the new parts brought by rival teams provided a gain of approximately 0.3 seconds per lap, and McLaren failed to benefit from this process.
Silverstone results and the impact of track conditions.
Lando Norris had a difficult weekend due to the MCL40's unstable character. However, aided by developments such as Max Verstappen's crash and Kimi Antonelli breaking his wheel air deflector, he finished fourth in the main race and unexpectedly secured a third in the sprint. Oscar Piastri finished seventh in the sprint, but had to change his front wing after contact with Liam Lawson on the first lap of Sunday's race, dropping him to 11th. Stella highlighted that the characteristics of the Silverstone circuit also exacerbated the situation: low grip levels, unpredictable wind conditions, and a tendency for the car to slide resulted in cars with more mechanical stress and downforce gaining a significant advantage.
Update schedule and engine specification
McLaren's latest comprehensive upgrade package debuted at the Miami Grand Prix. However, problems with the new parts subsequently emerged; the new front wing, introduced in Canada, was quickly withdrawn from the lineup but reintroduced in Spain. The rear wing, codenamed 'Macarena' and designed for Austria, was not used in either Austria or Silverstone due to reliability and performance concerns. The next major upgrade package is now being sought for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Stella also confirmed that McLaren has not yet switched to the updated Mercedes power unit specification, which is already used by Alpine and Williams. This step is not expected before the summer break. While Stella acknowledged that there are areas where additional performance could be extracted from the engine package, he emphasized that the main issue is the delay in updating the chassis.
Stella's self-criticism: The advantages of 2025 are no longer there.
The team principal stated the situation directly to the media: “Not being on the same update schedule as our rivals is the biggest source of the current performance gap.” Stella acknowledged that the approximately half-second gap to Ferrari and Mercedes wouldn't be closed solely by this factor, but added that timely updates could significantly improve the situation. Observing that tire wear was at similar levels across many teams, Stella summarized the main concern as follows: “None of the advantages we have in the 2025 season remain; therefore, we must create new areas of competitive advantage.”