McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has issued a rallying cry to his team, calling for a major step up in McLaren development intensity after a tough Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session left both of the team’s cars locked out of the top five. With Mercedes pulling away at the front and Ferrari and Red Bull also making big strides, the reigning constructors’ champions are facing serious pressure in the 2026 season.
Norris Says McLaren Are “Where We Deserve To Be”
Lando Norris believes McLaren are “where we deserve to be” after falling short of their rivals in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, having appeared more competitive during free practice on Friday.
Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified in sixth and seventh places respectively for the Austrian Grand Prix, around four tenths off the pace set by polesitter George Russell. You can read more about why Norris called P6 ‘insane’ after McLaren’s slump and also why Piastri called P7 ‘magicless’ in our dedicated reports.
The McLaren team came into qualifying at the Red Bull Ring with some promising positions in both FP1 and FP2, suggesting it had the legs of both Ferrari and Red Bull. But in the crunch moment, Norris and Piastri could not quite match them.
Norris admitted: “The rear of the car is not where we need to be. We can easily add front wing and it’s effective, but we just can’t do anything to add support and stability to the rear of the car, so we just have to wait for new parts.”
Stella Calls for Greater McLaren Development Intensity
Stella acknowledged that McLaren is two to three months behind Mercedes in aerodynamic development. “We talk about three months of development that we need to catch up. There’s only one way of doing so, which is to out-develop competitors,” he said.
Stella said the “competitiveness pattern” of 2026 shows that Mercedes is the fastest car. “We have seen that with the upgrades Ferrari have taken, plus the engine upgrade they have here, they just made a step forward. Red Bull’s upgrades here are quite impressive in terms of volume, and here they were faster than McLaren.”
Stella also suggested his team is still trying to figure out how to get the same performance out of its Mercedes power units as the works team. He explained: “Our gap to Mercedes has always been between three and four tenths. It comes in the corners predominantly, probably 70% in the corners. It’s very clear why: their car generates more downforce than our car.”
You can catch up on the full race story in our Austrian GP 2026 race report, and find out more about Red Bull’s big upgrade push that helped them pass McLaren this weekend.
F1 Is Operating at a Level Never Seen Before
Stella said: “I think what we see in 2026 is a Formula 1 operating at a level that has never been the case before.” This is a big statement. It means every team is pushing harder and faster than ever to improve their car, and McLaren cannot afford to stand still.
He pointed to Red Bull’s upgrades in Austria as an example: “The upgrades that Red Bull did are quite voluminous. The overall gain, in terms of performance development and delivery to track, is to a higher level than I’ve ever seen before. We need to make sure that at McLaren we can out-develop and out-deliver our competitors.”
Stella made clear what needs to happen: “We need to continue the hard development work to add those crucial few tenths of a second in performance. We know we have to improve, particularly in aerodynamics and tyre exploitation.”
Norris himself echoed the call, saying “every single individual in McLaren needs to do a better job than every other person in Formula 1.” He still has faith in the team, though. He added: “I think the fact that we’re so close and we know there’s so much more potential, it’s a good sign for the future.”
For more context on the Red Bull situation at this race, see our piece on Verstappen’s Austria qualifying crash explained and the Red Bull apology and health update.
Looking Ahead: Can McLaren Strike Back?
Stella says the pipeline looks “very promising, especially in terms of aerodynamic upgrades,” but warns the team needs to “land with these upgrades trackside as soon as possible.”
The big question now is how long teams can keep bringing upgrades under the cost cap. Crucially, with the rules staying the same, most development work for the 2026 car can carry over into 2027. That makes this development race even more important in the long run.
McLaren are third in the constructors’ standings, and the gap to Mercedes is growing. With an expectation of high degradation and multiple stops, there is still hope for a competitive race performance in Austria. But Stella’s message is clear: upgrades need to arrive faster, and the whole team needs to work with more urgency. The next few rounds will tell us a lot about whether McLaren can answer that call. Check out our full Oscar Piastri driver profile and George Russell driver profile for more on the key players in this 2026 title battle.
