The reigning world champions have struggled thus far in 2026, but boss Andrea Stella explains the team hopes to close the gap with a development plan for the rest of the season. Formula 1 has long been as much about the aero development war between the teams as it is the battles between the drivers on track, and that has never been more apparent than this season. Mercedes has generally managed to stay ahead of rivals, always finding a little more pace as others threaten to catch up.
Lately, however, Ferrari has led the chase—successfully enough to score two wins when things didn’t quite go to plan for Mercedes—while Red Bull and McLaren have been a step behind. As the list of aero updates published by the FIA on the Friday of each race weekend attests, everyone is bringing updates as often as possible and at a greater rate than we’ve ever seen.
View Price on AmazonThe intriguing aspect is that finding performance really is all about new bits, and not so much about exploiting setup as it was in the previous ground effect era when there was much to be gained from getting the car into the right aero window on a given weekend, especially in terms of ride heights. McLaren boss Andrea Stella did a good job at Silverstone of explaining how it’s all working out in 2026, and why his team has slipped behind its main rivals the development race.
“Unlike the previous regulations, the pattern of competitiveness here is quite repeatable,” the Italian noted. “It's quite consistent, pretty much independent of the track layout. You have Ferrari and Mercedes, and then Red Bull and McLaren at the current moment in time. So it's not like there's much sensitivity on track layout, corner type, or setup, which is the second consideration. Last year, if you found a way to run as close as possible to the ground and not have porpoising, or cope with the stiffness, then you would cash in downforce, and you [might] elevate the category of your car.
Heading into this season, teams had different ideas on what directions to take and what their main focus should be. They have all now had time to see what works and what doesn’t, both on their own cars and those of rivals, and that has in turn fed back into R&D. Stella is not too proud to admit that McLaren didn’t get it entirely right as it developed the MCL40, and is now pursuing different concepts.
Source: roadandtrack.com
