Andrea Stella admits concerns over the MCL39 – Having won their first Formula One constructors’ championship since 1998, McLaren swept into the 2025 season with clearly the quickest car on the grid. Lando Norris qualified on pole in Australia ahead of his team mate, whilst Max Verdstappen in third was a worrying hat a second slower than the lead McLaren.
A mistake at his home Grand Prix in the rain saw Oscar Piastri go off the circuit in damp conditions falling from second to tenth before recovering to finish P9. Yet the MCL39 was the class of the field winning all but three races in the first fifteen rounds.
However an inspired new floor upgrade from the Milton Keynes based team gave Max Verstappen the extra performance he required to turn things around. His four wins the last six Grand Prix and Sprint see him in a similar position to where Norris was at after his team mate won in the Netherlands.
McLaren cooling a triumph in Mexico
Now just 36 points behind new drivers’ championship leader Norris, Verstappen has four Grand Prix and two Sprint races to complete the biggest driver come back in F1 history. Yet the McLaren dominance at the start of the year was not guaranteed as Andrea Stella now reveals.
Speaking on Beyond the Grid podcast, Stella confessed over last winter he harboured some serious doubts about the progress of the MCL39. Unlike Ferrari, McLaren decided to develop their 2024 title winning car rather than build a whole new design, but at times the data was concerning for the McLaren team boss.
Norris dominant win last time out in Mexico was in part due to the fact McLaren’s new cooling system meant he didn’t need to lift and coast like many other drivers. Further, he is kinder to his tyres than Oscar Piastri, something which will be a concern to the Aussie in the low grip should it rain in Brazil. In Las Vegas too the track will again be slippery in the cold desert evening and Piastri faces an up hill challenge to stop the charge of his team mate.
Stella kept his secret from Brown
“The team elevated their game, first of all,” said Stella praising his engineers’ bold approach. “From an engineering point of view, the bravery that went into the 2025 car was remarkable – from the cooling system to the new front and rear suspension designs. Some of them really challenged our knowledge.”
Yet the Italian admits during the car’s development phase he wasn’t convinced the team had done enough – but he kept his doubts to himself. “Over the winter, I wasn’t necessarily calm that we hadn’t gone too far in terms of innovation,” Stella revealed. “I never told Zak that was the case. I always told him, ‘Don’t worry, it’s all under control.’ The car is a reflection of the team.”
Stella went on to credit McLaren’s culture of continuous self-improvement as the key to their success. “Each and every one has embraced the challenge to be better than the year before. That’s part of our fundamental ethos,” he explained.
‘Unfixed issues’ claims Norris
“Papaya rules” prove troublesome
“And I think the drivers are better too — Oscar has grown enormously, and Lando has developed as well. It’s that overall growth that’s allowed us to seal the [constructors] championship with six races to go.” The last time McLaren won back to back titles was in their heyday of the late 1980’s when in fact they claimed four in a row (1988-91).
Yet its not been plain sailing since the summer for the Woking based team, with Max Verstappen now breathing down the necks of the two McLaren rivals. Both Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have faced intense scrutiny over their handling of the Norris/Piastri title fight. “Papa rules” were introduced to ensure fairness to both competitors, despite Brown repeatedly stating his drivers “are free to race.”
Yet part of the self imposed regulations is that the team comes first, something which led to a number of decisions which some believe to have negatively affected Oscar Piastri and some like Bernie Ecclestone has accused the team of outright “favouritism” towards Norris.
Brown refuses team orders even if Max wins
The fans in Mexico expressed their disapproval of the team’s actions by booing Lando Norris after his impressive win by around 30 seconds. However, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher claims he has had it confirmed by team insiders the treatment of the McLaren drivers remains equal and fair.
In an astonishing admission Zak Brown said on the same podcast that he would refuse to back one or other of his drivers for the title race eve if it meant handing the advantage to Max Verstappen. He revealed that unless it was mathematically impossible for either Norris or Piastri to claim the drivers’ championship, neither would be asked to play a number two role to their team mate.
The mood in Milton Keynes is upbeat with Dr. Helmut Marko stating the team will continue to bring upgrades to its RB21. McLaren meanwhile have done little manful development of their MCL39 since the return after there F1 summer break.
Verstappen too has changed his tone since ruling himself out of the title race after his home Grand Prix in Zandvoort. Such is his optimism he suggested in Mexico only “bad luck” cold stop him from claiming a record fifth consecutive title – something Hamilton never achieved.
Verstappen/Russell war of words continues behind the scenes
2007 all over again for McLaren?
Max must win in Brazil if he is realistically to challenge the McLaren drivers over the remaining three weekends in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Andrea Stella admitted: “If Max is the champion at the end of the year, for us, the important thing is that we can say we have done our best and we have done our best according to the way we go racing.
“And if Max wins this year, we say: ‘We are going to win next year. We are going to be there and we are going to be there united as we are.”
Zak Brown added to this: “I’ll shake his hand and say: ‘Job well done’. I want to make sure, if we don’t win, he beats us, we don’t beat ourselves. That’s important.” The American went on to reference the 2007 F1 season, where the battling McLaren team mates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso continued to take points from each other and somehow lose out to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen both by a single point.
“And we’re well aware of 2007, two drivers tie on points. But we’ve got two drivers who want to win the championship, we’re playing offence, we’re not playing defence,” Brown concluded. McLaren fans of old may not see it this way and only a disastrous weekend for either Norris or Piastri would see them out of contention and probably with only one race weekend remaining.
Ferrari 2026 F1 power unit “in trouble” says insider
Formula One is to experience is biggest ever regulation changes in its history next season as both chassis and power units will be drastically different. The modern day tomes filled with FIA rules governing the design of both F1 cars and engines are a far cry from the back of a fag packet regulations in 1950.
Then two kinds of engines were allowed with the displacement for natural aspirated engines set at 4500cc whilst those supercharged were restricted to 1500cc. There were no weight restrictions and whilst goggles were a requirement, the drivers could choose not to wear helmets nor seatbelts – and that was that.
Now the modern day F1 power units are highly complex and eye wateringly expensive, something both the FIA and FOM are looking to change in 2030. The power of the manufacturers has reached a zenith in the sport as they refused to countenance proposals earlier this season from the FIA to reduce the amount of electric output in the 2026 powertrain designs….. READ MORE
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