The reigning Constructors’ Champions have endured a difficult start to the 2026 Formula 1 season, failing to win any of the opening eight races. In contrast, Mercedes has dominated the campaign with seven victories, despite also supplying McLaren with its power units.
McLaren has made progress in recent races after improving how it uses the Mercedes High Performance Powertrains engine, but Stella admitted the biggest difference between the two teams remains the MCL40 itself.
“Our gap to Mercedes has generally been between three and four tenths of a second,” Stella explained. “Around 70 per cent of that deficit comes through the corners, while about 30 per cent comes on the straights.”
Stella believes Mercedes enjoys a clear advantage in cornering performance because its car produces more downforce.
“It is very clear why we lose time in the corners,” he said. “Their car generates more downforce than ours, and that is something we are working hard to improve. We already have promising development projects underway.”
The Italian also pointed to straight-line performance as another area requiring attention. While McLaren has improved its use of the Mercedes power unit through close cooperation with Mercedes HPP, Stella feels aerodynamic drag remains a significant factor.
“The speed deficit on the straights is still quite noticeable,” he said. “Part of that could be linked to aerodynamic drag, while we are also continuing to study how we exploit the power unit. It is not always easy to separate those two factors.”
Stella added that differences in gear ratios and other technical details could also influence performance, but stressed that reducing drag on the MCL40 remains McLaren’s priority.
“The one area completely under our control is reducing the drag on our car,” he said. “That is where we are concentrating our efforts while maintaining a very close collaboration with Mercedes HPP.”
McLaren will hope those improvements begin to pay off when Formula 1 heads to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 5 July, where the team will be aiming to challenge Mercedes more closely at one of the sport’s most iconic circuits.
