Andrea Stella says McLaren are in their strongest version as a team right now

McLaren enter the 2026 F1 season as reigning Constructors' Champions, while Lando Norris is the defending Drivers' Champion, but their defending campaign is not looking good so far, as their Mercedes-powered MCL40, while close to Ferrari's SF-26, is still no match to the Mercedes W17.

McLaren also suffered from reliability problems, which meant neither Norris nor Oscar Piastri could start the Chinese Grand Prix due to technical issues, as the team are yet to get on top of their Mercedes power unit and how to manage it properly.

Despite bouncing back in Suzuka, the Woking squad still have work to do in order to compete consistently at the front.

But Stella is confident his team can turn things around soon. He said: “If anything, McLaren, at least since when I’m Team Principal right now, is in its strongest version as a team.

"We have never had this level of capabilities and infrastructure we have never had before, even when we were winning championships, this level of expertise and talent in the team.

“I’ve never seen, like I said before, Lando and Oscar working so well together, and I can see that the pattern that led us in the last three years to just instigate such an upward trajectory; I can see that this pattern is forming up.

“So, I think there’s all the reasons to be very encouraged looking at the future, and, like I said before, hopefully we will start to see some improvements already in the next events," he predicted.

McLaren are able to benefit from the unexpected break, caused by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix due to the Middle East war, to cover some ground.

Stella explained: “Effectively, because of having been such a program, such an intense program, quite pushed from a timeline point of view, actually this pause is welcomed.

“I think, for McLaren as a team, it gives us the possibility to make the parts that we want to take trackside to evolve our car, make it faster, especially when it comes to aerodynamic performance.

"I think it gives us some more time to work with HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains), for instance, finalizing all the tools that are required to exploit the power unit.

“Importantly, it also gives the staff the time to take a little bit of a breath because it’s been one of the most intense winters that I can remember in my career in Formula 1. Definitely once we started to go trackside, and winter testing itself has been very intense, very busy.

“So I think it’s good that in what is going to be another long season, we have the time to take a breath and we have the time to catch up from an operational and technical point of view so that we can be, as a team, in condition to fight for more important positions once we race back, starting from Miami.”

However, the Italian admitted the MCL40's chassis needs to be developed, as the issues are not only power unit-related.

He continued: “Coming back on the chassis side, we understand exactly what to do in terms of putting in place the actions to improve the chassis further.

"In fact, it’s just about bringing upgrades that will increase the aerodynamic efficiency. These will happen in the next couple of events, so I think from there we should see a positive trajectory.

"We are confident that McLaren will be in condition to compete for podiums and victories on merit within this season," Stella concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)