Andrea Stella says McLaren must fix itself first

Andrea Stella says McLaren has bigger problems to solve than Red Bull’s, insisting the team is focused on finding performance, improving reliability and cleaning up race execution in a winless 2026 Formula 1 season.

Asked after the British Grand Prix what he would do if he were Laurent Mekies amid Red Bull’s current pressure, the McLaren team principal told media including RacingNews365: “Well, you know what? I have enough to do at McLaren to gain half a second in the shortest amount of time.”

That answer went to the heart of McLaren’s position. Stella said the team “haven’t had a good start to the season from a reliability point of view either,” with the problems affecting both “the power unit area” and “the chassis area.” For a team still without a Grand Prix win this year, his emphasis was on the work still missing inside McLaren rather than the turbulence around a rival.

He pointed to Silverstone as proof that the issues are not only about outright pace. “Still today, from an operational point of view, I’m here saying that we should stop Oscar [Piastri] one lap earlier and we would have saved some race time,” Stella said, using McLaren’s own race management as another area where time is being left on the table.

The question came amid renewed speculation over Max Verstappen’s future and reports linking him with McLaren for 2027. Verstappen is under contract at Red Bull until the end of 2028, but the summaries state a performance clause could become active because he is seventh in the standings, 78 points behind George Russell in second, with only 50 points left before the August break.

Even while refusing to offer advice to Red Bull, Stella made clear he does not see Mekies as the issue. He described the Red Bull boss as “very capable, very intelligent, very competent” and said he was “sure he will do everything that is necessary.” Stella added that he hopes McLaren and Red Bull can “join Mercedes and Ferrari” in the fight at the front, a sign that his concern is less about transfer talk and more about whether McLaren can recover enough speed and consistency to be part of that battle in the second half of the season.