Andrea Stella, the team principal of McLaren, has sounded a warning to the competition as the 2026 Formula One season enters its second half. He expressed confidence that the Woking outfit can sustain the pace it has found after a breakthrough performance in Hungary, and he wants other teams to be aware that McLaren is not planning to sit back. The British squad, which entered the season as the defending Constructors' Champions, finally secured its long‑awaited first win before the summer hiatus when Lando Norris dominated the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris's victory narrowed the gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli to 91 points and reduced McLaren's deficit to Mercedes, Antonelli’s team, to 159 points. To keep his title hopes alive, Norris will also need to overtake Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Charles Leclerc, while Ferrari remain 72 points behind Mercedes in the team standings.
Although those margins appear sizeable, Stella believes the surge in performance after a substantial upgrade package at the Hungaroring signals that McLaren can stay competitive for the remaining twelve races, beginning with the Dutch Grand Prix on August 21‑23. When asked whether his squad could re‑enter the battle for the world titles, Stella replied, "It's a tough question, but the answer is clear.
If we can keep delivering the kind of results we saw in Budapest, we still have a lot to achieve. The key is to keep developing the MCL40 and to out‑work our rivals, who are also pushing hard on their own upgrades. The final outcome will depend on how effective our solutions prove on track. In the early part of the season we struggled more than we expected, but once we have momentum we have shown we can hold on to it." The 2026 calendar features a full slate of races, and Sky Sports offers a contract‑free streaming option for every Grand Prix.
Listeners can also follow The F1 Show podcast or get updates via Sky Sports on WhatsApp. A year earlier McLaren found itself in a very different position. At the same point in the season they led the Constructors' Championship by 299 points, and Oscar Piastri was ahead of teammate Norris in what seemed a two‑horse fight for the Drivers' title. However, Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who was 104 points behind Piastri with nine races left, mounted a dramatic comeback and finished the year just two points shy of Norris and 11 ahead of Piastri.
Stella reminded everyone that twelve races remain, offering 546 points up for grabs. "The gaps in both championships are large, but we learned a valuable lesson last year," he said. "If we have built a new display cabinet at the McLaren Technology Centre to showcase fresh trophies, we have a responsibility to keep filling it." The upgrade package introduced for Hungary was downplayed by the team before the event, yet the results spoke loudly. Norris secured pole position and then displayed blistering speed to claim victory, beating Verstappen by 15 seconds.
The margin could have been even larger if Norris had not been held up early on by teammate Piastri, who overtook him on the opening lap. Reflecting on the development process, Stella explained that there was no single turning point; rather, the team gradually recognised the magnitude of the challenge and the areas needing improvement.
He added that the forced break in April actually helped, allowing engineers to focus entirely on analysing the MCL40's performance and to decide where to redirect development resources. "The Budapest weekend was the climax of the first half of the season," he noted.
"Not just because of the win, but because the aerodynamic package we debuted at the Hungaroring resulted from a strategic shift in our development direction and gave us a significant competitive boost." Stella also praised the collaboration with Mercedes, the power‑unit supplier. Over recent months the team has deepened its understanding of the new Mercedes HPP engine and worked closely with technical partners to extract maximum performance.
"It has been a long journey with ups and downs, but we are finally seeing the fruits of that labour," he said. "Optimising the power unit will remain a complex task throughout the rest of the 2026 season, but we are confident we are on the right track." The Formula One calendar resumes after the summer break with a sprint weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix, scheduled for August 21‑23. All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, and viewers can stream the coverage via NOW with no contractual commitment and the ability to cancel at any time.
The upcoming races will be a true test of whether McLaren can keep the momentum it built in Hungary and challenge the dominant forces of Mercedes and Red Bull for the remainder of the season.