Mar.9 (GMM) McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has admitted his team were left struggling to predict and develop their car in Melbourne because of insufficient information from Mercedes about their shared power unit – a rare public acknowledgement of the pitfalls of being a customer team in Formula 1’s most complex regulatory era.
“Discussions about getting more complete information from the Mercedes engine department lasted several weeks,” Stella said at the end of the 2026 season opener.
“Even during testing, we’d go out on the track, start the car, look at the data, and say, ‘Oh, that’s what we have. Okay, now we need to react.’
“That’s not how it works in Formula 1.”
“We’re a customer-focused team, but this is the first time we’ve felt at a disadvantage when it comes to predicting and improving a car’s performance,” he added.
The admission came after McLaren finished as arguably the slowest of the top four teams in Melbourne.
George Russell was unapologetic on behalf of the works squad. “Last year we had the same engine as McLaren and they did a better job than us and they beat us,” said the new world championship leader, who won on Sunday from pole.
“Now McLaren have got the same engine as us, and so far we’ve done a better job than them. That’s just how the game goes.”
The information gap may also help explain Oscar Piastri’s race-ending crash on the laps to the grid, which ended his home grand prix before it began.
The Australian said an unexpected torque spike caught him out. “I had about 100kW extra power that I didn’t expect, which is not insignificant – 100kW more than I’ve had for the whole weekend at the point that I shifted.”
He admitted he perhaps should not have ridden the kerb, while Stella said the precise combination of factors had not been anticipated.
“We may have seen some similar circumstances in testing, but we didn’t have the combination of cold tyres and kerb, which exacerbated the fact that you can have these inconsistencies in torque distribution in the grip-limited phases.”