Andrea Stella says the strength of McLaren’s technical department will position the team well ahead of the 2026 F1 season.
McLaren struggled at the start of the ground effects era in 2022 and had one of the slowest cars on the grid at the start of 2023. But after turning things around and winning back-to-back constructors’ championships, as well as the drivers’ title this year, Stella says there is every reason to believe McLaren will remain competitive under the new regulations next season.
“Achievements like this are clearly the result of the growth of the entire team, but I would like to give a special mention to the technical team this time,” Stella said.
“In the end, the technical team conceived, designed and developed a car that at the beginning of 2023 was the 9th or 10th best car, which became one of the best cars at the end of 2023, then gradually became the best car and definitely the best car in the first half of 2025. If anything, Red Bull gave us an important challenge in the second half of 2025, when we had already stopped development for a while.”
“McLaren’s technical team is particularly strong and we can benefit from the contributions of Peter Prodromou, Rob Marshall, Neil Holdie, Mark Ingham, Giuseppe Pesce and Mark Temple… From this perspective, I think this is one of the strongest technical departments of my 26-year career in F1.”
“This means that although the details of the current regulations will not necessarily apply in the future, the approach, standards and approach to goals from a car development and technical point of view will continue into the future, which makes us optimistic for the 2026 season.”
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said he was enthusiastic about the challenge of building a car that could win championships again under the new rules, and stressed that the team’s evolution back at the factory should not be overlooked.
“It’s been a great quest to move forward from our original position, not only on the course but also off the course,” Brown said. “I think the commitment from our shareholders, especially from Mamtarakat, has been incredible from day one. All they want from us is to win, have a great brand, and take care of our employees. And I think we’ve gotten this result because we take care of our people.”
“We have the full support of our incredible sponsors, shareholders and chairman, which allows Andrea and I and the management team to put our heads down and get to work.
“When it comes to the rulebook, that’s the exciting part of F1. We have to go through it all over again. We’ve changed a lot of cars this year, so even if the rules haven’t changed significantly, our technical team hasn’t been quiet.”
“And as well as our technical team, our leadership team – the CFO, the head of human resources, the commercial team, the head of communications, the chief of staff – they all have to do a great job. Because F1 teams have the complexity of being able to put the technical team and the racing team in a position to win, so there’s a lot of work that has to be done behind the scenes to even provide them with the tools and resources and our people.”
“So this is a great achievement. We definitely won it the hard way and now we have to start again. It’s going to be tough because the worst teams in F1 are really good. So it’s not just driver competition… there’s also team competition. There are no more small teams, no small teams that we all grew up with. Everyone is running at the cost cap and this sport is incredibly healthy and it’s a lot of fun.”
